Paul Shread

The S&P 500 (first chart below) says it all today, as the index broke down out of a 15-month trading range. That’s bad news for the bulls — and opens up the possibility of a move as low as 1170, the 200-point range break projected to the downside. First, though, the index has to get […]

Stocks hit fresh 15-month lows Thursday, but at least IBM and AMD investors had some reason to smile. AMD shares edged higher in late trading despite posting quarterly sales that were below Wall Street estimates, as investors cheered better than expected margins that led to a pro forma loss that wasn’t as bad as analysts […]

Merger mania in the tech sector, tame inflation data and a rally in financial stocks were almost enough to rescue the stock market on Wednesday, but weaker than expected results from Intel proved too much to overcome. Intel shares plunged 12% after the chip giant missed estimates and lowered revenue guidance. The surprise was that […]

We’ll repeat the mantra of positives here: a spiking put-call ratio, an outperforming NYSE advance-decline line (see first chart below), and new lows that are half of what they were a week ago in this same area (and a third of what they were in August). Plenty of ammunition for the bulls — but it […]

Intel late Tuesday gave no hope to a stock market already reeling from subprime mortgage woes and falling retail sales. The chip giant posted quarterly results that were below Wall Street estimates — then told investors to expect more of the same in the first quarter. Coming a day after a pleasant surprise from IBM, […]

IBM surprised investors Monday by releasing preliminary financial results that were much higher than Wall Street analysts anticipated. Big Blue said its fourth-quarter sales rose 10% to $28.9 billion, beating $27.8 billion forecasts, and earnings of $2.60 a share were 20 cents ahead of estimates. IBM attributed the better than expected results to currency benefits […]

The best hope for bulls here are a couple of signs that sellers may be running out of steam. The NYSE advance-decline line (see first chart below) remains above its November and August lows, and the number of new lows on the NYSE plunged from 750 Wednesday to 216 yesterday — and didn’t expand today […]

After six months of turmoil in the financial markets, investors seem no closer to becoming immune to news of the subprime mortgage mess, as rising defaults at American Express and a lower than expected takeover price for Countrywide Financial sent stocks skidding once again on Friday. The major indexes lost nearly 2% on fears that […]

Imation has developed technology that could double the storage capacity of data tapes, but the company first has to find OEMs to develop the drives for it. The storage media giant unveiled its new multi-channel “adjacent-track” write and read tape technology at the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC) Tape Program Quarterly Technical Review in San […]

Stocks rallied Thursday on the promise of more rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and a potential buyout of the nation’s biggest mortgage lender. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke left little doubt that more rate cuts are on the way in a midday speech, and a Wall Street Journal report that Bank of America was in […]

Rumors of a Countrywide Financial bankruptcy and comments from AT&T that raised slowdown fears sent stocks plunging on Tuesday. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told Bloomberg that the company is experiencing “softness” in its phone and broadband businesses and is disconnecting more customers for failing to pay their bills. AT&T shares cut their losses in half […]

Not much new to add from last Friday: the bears are still in charge, the Fed remains out of touch, and the last chance for the bulls remains 1360-1370 on the S&P, about 2% lower from here (see first chart below). All isn’t lost quite yet, however. The NYSE advance-decline line (second chart) remains above […]