Paul Shread

AMD missed revenue estimates after the close on Thursday, but the company held out hope for a better fourth quarter. AMD’s results weren’t a surprise, since the company warned earlier this week that results would come in lower than expected. AMD’s third-quarter revenues of $1.24 billion came in under analysts’ estimates of $1.3 billion, but […]

Sellers couldn’t take the market down, as the S&P 500 (first chart below) held its breakout nicely, so it was just a matter of time until buyers stepped in and pushed the market higher. 1135 is first support on the S&P, and 1131.5 remains critical support. 1146-1152 is the next resistance zone, and above that, […]

The stock market got a late-day boost Wednesday after Verizon raised its capital spending guidance. Verizon said it is budgeting $13 billion for capital expenditures for fiscal 2005, at the high end of forecasts. The news sent telecom and network stocks surging in the final hour of trading, after stocks had spent most of the […]

Sierra Logic has developed a chip that the company says makes serial ATA drives as reliable as Fibre Channel ones. Sierra Logic bills its Silicon Storage Router (SR-1216) as the “first-ever integrated silicon Fibre Channel to Serial ATA solution.” The SR-1216 chip and firmware lets OEMs offer enterprise-class availability “at a fraction of the cost […]

The S&P 500 (first chart below) remains the key here; so far, it has been able to hang onto yesterday’s breakout. 1131.5 is critical support – the index found support at 1132 today – and resistance is 1140 and 1146. The Nasdaq (second chart) also showed some nice resilience today. 1965 is major resistance, and […]

The Nasdaq shook off a warning from AMD to post its sixth consecutive gain on Tuesday. Even AMD didn’t fare that badly. The stock gapped lower to start the day, then spent the rest of the day climbing higher, making it almost back to unchanged on the day. AMD said it now expects a sequential […]

With an EMC pedigree and scores of customers, Diligent Technologies seems like a natural for attracting venture capital. But what’s really surprising is why top VC names are willing to fork over $22 million to the company: to finance products that won’t begin to appear on the market until the middle of next year. Diligent […]

The S&P 500 (first chart) began the week with a major breakout, but then nearly gave it up by the close. A move below last week’s close (1131.5) would be a negative. Resistance is 1140 and 1146. The Nasdaq (second chart) also put in an ugly candlestick today, after getting stopped at its 200-day moving […]

Better than expected guidance from Siebel Systems and more chip sector upgrades got the week off to a good start on Wall Street. Siebel surged 14% Monday after saying it expects third-quarter revenues of $315-317 million, well above $306 million estimates. PeopleSoft also gave more details after Friday’s upbeat forecast, saying it expects revenues of […]

After a poor start to this rally attempt, the market put together some surprising strength today. About the only negative we’d note is that volume was lower on the NYSE today. The question now becomes whether first-of-the-quarter inflows can translate into continued strength. Option traders continue to show surprising caution here, which continues to support […]

Investors appear to be taking the curious timing of PeopleSoft’s firing of CEO Craig Conway as a sign that the company is ready to sit down and talk with Oracle — and that Oracle may have to raise its bid for the company. Shares of Oracle soared 15% Friday to $22.83 — above Oracle’s $21 […]

The most interesting technical aspect of today’s trading is the large number of dojis — small, unchanged candlesticks suggesting indecision on the part of traders. If the market heads down tomorrow, it would be a good setup for a lower high on the indexes. On the plus side, the indexes held up well today despite […]