Paul Shread

Tuesday was a day for selling on the news in the stock market. Texas Instruments lost 3% despite raising guidance after the close on Monday. An early gap up turned out to be the high for the day, as traders sold the stock from the open. HP lost 2% despite an upbeat analyst meeting. Company […]

A strange market here, with the Dow (first chart below) clearly outperforming, and the Nasdaq (second chart) clearly lagging. The S&P (third chart) is stuck in such a narrow range that it might not take more than a 1% move in either direction to become overbought or oversold. The Dow, meanwhile, is already overbought as […]

Texas Instruments raised guidance after the close on Monday. The news from TI is the latest boost for the wireless sector, coming on the heels of strong guidance from Qualcomm last week. TI said it expects fourth quarter revenues of $2.64-2.77 billion, above $2.62 billion estimates, and earnings of 18-20 cents a share would come […]

Maranti Networks has unveiled an intelligent network storage services controller that one analyst claims puts the start-up at the front of the pack. “I am very big on Maranti,” says Nancy Marrone-Hurley, senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group. “I really believe this is the most intelligent platform on the market today for a number of […]

The good news is that the market is no more than a day or two down from reaching short-term oversold levels. The bad news is that sentiment is looking pretty complacent so far. The equity put-call ratio, for example, needs to be much higher than .68, at least around .80. 1960 and 1970 are resistance […]

An unexpected write-off from Intel and meager job growth sent stocks sprawling on Friday. Intel slumped 4% despite raising guidance after the close Thursday. Investors were unnerved by a $600 million goodwill impairment charge that will shave 6 cents a share off fourth-quarter earnings. Intel said it misjudged the long-term growth of its wireless and […]

After the longest period without a 5% decline in the market since 1966-1967, is volatility ready to make a comeback? Maybe, but with only a couple of weeks until positive seasonality takes over again, it may not last very long. The equity put-call ratio is showing complacency and thus suggests that the correction may not […]

Intel raised guidance after the close Thursday, but a large write-off caught investors by surprise. Intel raised revenue guidance to $8.5-8.7 billion, the top of the previous $8.1-8.7 billion range, and gross margin guidance of 62% was also strong. Expenses were higher than expected, however. Investors were taken aback by a $600 million goodwill impairment […]

Resistance held on the major indexes today, not surprising given how overbought the market was. Can the indexes muster another run? It’s certainly possible, but sentiment suggests the best course for the bulls might be a correction or consolidation. The equity put-call ratio, for example, showed little fear today. If the correction continues, we need […]

The Nasdaq failed once again Tuesday to clear the 2000 level despite optimism ahead of Intel’s mid-quarter update on Thursday. The Nasdaq hit a new yearly high before being turned back at 1996, the second time in a month the index was repelled just short of that mark. Intel opened higher on optimism ahead of […]

There’s a new Internet gold rush, only this time it involves good old-fashioned phone service. Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, has been one of the hottest investment themes on Wall Street this year. At least until today, when the New York Post questioned the valuation of 8×8 , which until today was up 4,300% […]

Surprising strength in the market, which has continued higher despite closing at overbought levels last Wednesday. The S&P (first chart below) closed right at a major resistance level (1070), the .382 Fibonacci retracement level of its all-time high. Much higher and the next big Fibo number, the 50% retrace, is about 100 points from here. […]