Paul Shread

Applied Materials and BEA Systems rose after hours Tuesday on better-than-expected earnings, capping a down day for tech stocks on a hopeful note. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ slipped 2 to 188, and the Nasdaq lost 17 to 1964. The S&P 500 declined 4 to 1187, and the Dow slipped 3 at 10,412. Volume rose to 963 […]

Third-quarter GDP got off to a weak start, thanks to more signs that the consumer has begun to reign in spending. Retail sales for July were unchanged, 0.2% better than analysts were expecting. Excluding autos and falling gasoline prices, retail sales were up slightly last month, but still below the six-month average of a 0.5% […]

A revenue warning from Oracle failed to shake tech investors on Monday, as they sent the Nasdaq more than 1% higher. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ rose 2 to 190, and the Nasdaq climbed 25 to 1982. The S&P 500 rose 1 to 1191, and the Dow was unchanged at 10,415. Volume fell to 842 million shares […]

If you are looking for a reason why the market has been unable to make much headway on rallies, look no further than Texas Instruments . A bullish call by Merrill Lynch on Texas Instruments was one of the reasons for Friday’s turnaround in the market. TXN is seeing stabilization in its analog order backlog […]

Blue chips and chip stocks led the market back Friday from a steep decline over deflation concerns. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 5 to 187, and the Nasdaq slipped 6 to 1956, its lowest weekly close since April 9. The S&P 500 rose 6 to 1190, and the Dow surged 117 to 10,416. Volume fell to […]

I’m not one of those permabears who have been hoarding gold since 1984, but lately I find myself getting so bearish I’m starting to scare myself. In the last 18 months, I’ve gone from being 100% invested in tech stocks, to being 100% invested in beaten-down Dow stocks, to my current holdings, which consist of […]

If Cisco’s dismal earnings report couldn’t sink the market, who would have bet on the Fed’s beige book doing it? The survey of regional economic conditions is largely anecdotal, but investors didn’t like yesterday’s anecdotes: economic weakness is spreading well beyond manufacturing, and consumers are beginning to reign in their spending. That’s just about the […]

Stocks fell sharply Wednesday on a weak earnings report from Cisco and an unexpectedly weak reading of economic activity. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 9 to 196, and the Nasdaq dropped 61 to 1966. The S&P 500 lost 20 to 1183, and the Dow declined 165 to 10,293. Volume rose to 1.1 billion shares on the […]

The most amazing thing about Cisco’s earnings report is that the stock is holding up so well this morning. Cisco is trading at about 18.75 this morning, down about 50 cents from the close. That’s not bad, considering that the company’s near-term and long-term growth story were both revised downward last night. Cisco met pro […]

Cisco slipped after the bell after matching earnings estimates and issuing a revenue warning. Stocks treaded water during the day ahead of Cisco’s earnings report. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ lost 1 to 205, and the Nasdaq declined 6 to 2027. The S&P 500 added 3 to 1204, and the Dow climbed 57 to 10,458. Volume rose […]

No economic statistic is more important to the New Economy and to technology investors than nonfarm productivity. Which makes this morning’s better-than-expected gain in second-quarter productivity pretty good news, particularly following the first quarter’s unexpected decline. Second-quarter productivity grew 2.5%, almost a full percentage point above estimates. Index futures turned from negative to flat-to-up on […]

Stocks dropped Monday on analyst downgrades to Intel. The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ lost 2 to 206, and the Nasdaq fell 32 to 2034. The S&P 500 dropped 13 to 1200, and the Dow fell 111 to 10,401. Volume fell to 817 million shares on the NYSE, and 1.1 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 18 to […]