Paul Shread

eBay , the giant among Internet stocks, is struggling. The reason given for eBay’s latest sell-off yesterday was that the company will soon announce an acquisition that will be dilutive to earnings. Analysts debunked the rumors, and the stock recovered well off its lows and is trading up this morning on bullish comments from Goldman […]

The Federal Reserve did exactly what everyone expected yesterday by cutting interest rates by a quarter of a point and saying that the economy remains weak. And the market responded with a 200-point plunge in the Dow in less than two hours, one of the steepest drops in the average in some time. Investors want […]

A quarter-point rate cut and a statement from the Federal Reserve that the economy remains weak were met by strong selling by investors on Tuesday. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 7 to 166, and the Nasdaq dropped 50 to 1831. The S&P 500 lost 14 to 1157, and the Dow plunged 145 to 10,174. Volume rose […]

A lot of market participants seem to be expecting something dramatic and different out of the Federal Reserve meeting today, but they’re likely to be disappointed. The Fed doesn’t do the unexpected, at least not at FOMC meetings. Which means that what the Fed will likely do today is to cut rates by 25 basis […]

Stocks rose in light volume Monday ahead of Tuesday’s Federal Reserve decision on interest rates. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ was unchanged at 174, and the Nasdaq rose 14 to 1881. The S&P 500 climbed 9 to 1171, and the Dow rose 79 to 10,320. Volume declined to 890 million shares on the NYSE, and 1.1 billion […]

If the Nasdaq bulls are going to make a stand, this would be the place to do it. The Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 both found support Friday at a level that chartists have been watching for some time: the lower boundaries of what could be falling wedges, a bullish pattern because the converging downtrend lines […]

The reasons for Friday’s sharp sell-off in the market were many and varied: a huge earnings warning from Ford, a likely downward revision to GDP, a court decision against Microsoft, and an earnings warning from Dell. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 6 to 174, and the Nasdaq dropped 63 to 1867. The S&P 500 lost 19 […]

Another tough day for technology earnings. With any luck, we’ll get a couple of quiet weeks before earnings warning season starts up again in September. Hewlett-Packard is trading up this morning only because the company managed to lower expectations far enough that it had room to surprise to the upside. And Dell is down this […]

Stocks staged an impressive comeback from steep losses on Thursday, but an earnings warning from Dell after the close could put modest pressure on stocks on Friday. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ was unchanged at 181, and the Nasdaq added 11 to 1930. The S&P 500 climbed 3 to 1181, and the Dow gained 46 to 10,392. […]

Ciena , the last telecom equipment company still holding up, joined the earnings warning parade this morning. Ciena slashed projected 2002 growth from 50% to less than 15% on its conference call a few minutes ago. The company plunged 6 points to 22 in pre-market trading. Ciena, the next-generation equipment leader, is finally following other […]

A falling U.S. dollar overshadowed a positive earnings report from Applied Materials on Wednesday, sending stocks sprawling. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ dropped 6 to 181, and the Nasdaq fell 45 to 1918. The S&P 500 declined 8 to 1178, and the Dow lost 66 to 10,345. Volume rose to 1 billion shares on the NYSE, and […]

Applied Materials last night provided more evidence that the semiconductor business could hit bottom in the next couple of quarters, but the strength of the rebound remains the big unanswered question. AMAT said that orders remain weak, but are bottoming out. The leading chip equipment firm said it expects a modest rebound early next year, […]