Paul Shread

Dell continued a recent pattern Friday when it rallied after being sold off the night before by traders disappointed that the company didn’t show stronger growth in its earnings results. Comments by Michael Dell that corporate optimism is increasing helped boost the stock, which gained 3% on the day after opening down. Dell’s earnings of […]

Yesterday’s massive power outage in the Northeast and Canada drove home what most corporate IT departments already know: disaster recovery preparation pays. “The fact that we haven’t heard too much about this topic, other than Fidelity shutting down after hours trading, suggests that everything went smoothly,” reports Steve Kenniston, technology analyst at Enterprise Storage Group. […]

The Dow and S&P (first two charts below) are telling two potentially different stories. The Dow could be a bullish ascending triangle – if it can clear 9352-9361. The S&P, on the other hand, could be a bearish descending triangle if it can’t clear 995 or so. Watch those levels for a resolution. Support is […]

Dell met earnings estimates and topped revenue forecasts after the close on Thursday, but once again investors appeared to be looking for signs of a stronger recovery in tech spending. Earnings of 24 cents a share met analyst estimates, and revenues of $9.78 billion came in ahead of $9.75 billion forecasts. Dell said it expects […]

The Dow (first chart below) stalled at the major 9352-9361 resistance level. A break above that would be bullish, and the resilience in the face of profit-taking today was a positive. However, if the index goes down much at all tomorrow, it will fall back out of its March trendline. Next support down is 9150-9180. […]

Chip stocks posted strong gains Wednesday despite a warning from Applied Materials . The reason? Comments from CIBC that rising bookings at the chip equipment giant mean that better results lie ahead. CIBC said AMAT could gain 50% by year-end. Applied Materials gained 3% on the comments, and the SOX, the semiconductor index, gained 2%. […]

A nice recovery by the market after some recent breakdowns. The Nasdaq (first chart below) recovered the 1685 level, which it now must hold. 1700 and 1727-1747 are next, and 1677 and 1640 are support. The Dow (second chart) recovered its main channel line from March. 9352 and 9470 are next resistance levels, and 9280, […]

Investors hoping for more evidence of a rebound in technology spending will have to wait for Dell’s results on Thursday. Applied Materials beat 4-cent estimates by a penny after the close on Tuesday, but revenues came in about 1% shy of estimates with a 25% year-over-year decline. The company said it expects sales to be […]

While it’s nice that the Nasdaq (first chart below) finally bounced, the index will need a stronger upside move to negate what could be a bear flag forming the last few days. Support is 1650 and 1640, and resistance is 1675-1685. Earnings from Applied Materials tomorrow and Dell on Thursday may have much to do […]

Tech stocks broke a six-day losing streak after brokerage firms upgraded several names. Topping the list was Oracle , which gained 3.5% on a Merrill Lynch upgrade based on valuation. Oracle’s stock had fallen 15% since it made a hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft on June 6. Oracle extended its offer for PeopleSoft on Friday. […]

Five tech companies are teaming to demonstrate new serial disk technology at this week’s HP World conference. Adaptec, HP, Intel, Maxtor, and Seagate will showcase Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology at the Atlanta show, including the first 2.5- and 3.5-inch SAS disk drives and the first prototype SAS chip architected to run at 3 and […]

Despite an early rally, tech stocks remained in the summer doldrums on Friday, as they fell for the sixth consecutive day. Investors ignored strong earnings from Emulex , and instead focused on NVIDIA’s declining fortunes, sending the stock plunging 20%. Techs will have another chance to get up off the mat next week, when tech […]