Paul Shread

The bulls have plenty going for them here, with record lows in the ISE sentiment gauge, among other measures showing high investor fear, yet stocks continue to struggle and appear as likely to retest their lows as they do to break out to new highs. That said, first-quarter sell-offs in election years have historically turned […]

Tech stocks edged higher Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested to Congress that more interest rate cuts are on the way despite growing inflation concerns. Cisco and Apple led the Nasdaq higher, gaining more than 3% each. Cisco gained 3.7% on upgrades from Wells Fargo and Citigroup, while Apple rose 3.2% on news […]

IBM shares surged on Tuesday, sending stocks to their best three-day gain of the year, after the company raised guidance and announced a $15 billion share buyback. IBM shares jumped 4% after the company said it expects to earn at least $8.25 and as much as $8.35 a share this year. Wall Street analysts were […]

Stocks soared Monday on news that bond insurers will hold onto their top credit ratings, at least for now. The major indexes shot higher in the afternoon and finished with gains of more 1% after Standard & Poors reaffirmed the credit ratings of MBIA and Ambac Financial, removing a big cloud hanging over financial markets. […]

EMC has acquired a startup that specializes in managing personal information, technology the storage giant says could be used across a number of product lines as it moves further into the consumer and services markets. Seattle-based Pi Corporation was founded by 14-year Microsoft veteran Paul Maritz, with help from Warburg Pincus. The company offers software […]

Friday’s stock market session was all about bond insurers. Worries that a rescue of bond insurers wouldn’t come in time to save their top credit ratings dissipated late in the day on reports that Ambac Financial may be nearing a bailout. The news was good for a 2% rebound in the major stock indexes in […]

An early rally led by shares of Research In Motion gave way to a steep sell-off Thursday on more evidence that economic growth is slowing sharply. Stocks posted solid gains in early trading before news hit of much weaker than expected Mid-Atlantic manufacturing and the fourth straight monthly decline in leading indicators. Stocks spent the […]

Worries about inflation and economic growth took a back seat on Wednesday, thanks to much better than expected quarterly results from HP. Stocks opened sharply lower on higher than expected consumer inflation and more weak housing numbers, yet stocks turned higher in the afternoon despite Federal Reserve meeting minutes that echoed the same concerns of […]

Analysis: Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang could be facing some dissension from board members who wonder if he is acting more out of emotion than responsibility to shareholders in rejecting Microsoft’s takeover offer, according to recent press accounts. Given the recent stock performance, those dissident board members may have good reason to wonder. Yahoo shares were […]

Subprime mortgage troubles and $100 a barrel oil may be hurting the rest of the stock market and the economy, but HP seems to be weathering the current economic woes just fine, thank you. HP’s 13% sales growth to $28.5 billion and 86-cent-a-share earnings soundly beat Wall Street estimates late Tuesday, and HP’s forward guidance […]

Stocks finished modestly lower Friday, as weak New York state manufacturing and consumer sentiment reports and disappointing results from Best Buy did little to encourage buyers ahead of the long holiday weekend. The tech sector closed lower despite big gains for Priceline.com and Brocade on their quarterly results, as slowdown fears and a chilly reception […]

Stocks plunged Thursday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a downbeat assessment of the economy and predicted more mortgage-related losses. Bernanke’s comments that growth will remain slow until later this year raised the possibility of more rate cuts from the central bank, but investors focused on the weakening economy and the possibility of more troubles […]