Paul Shread

Weak pending home and auto sales reports weighed on blue chip stocks Tuesday, but technology stocks continued to rise on hopes that better days lie ahead. The Dow took a breather a day after hitting a new high and the S&P 500 remained stuck just below its all-time high, but the Nasdaq moved to a […]

The major indexes have moved nicely higher since our last update a week ago and are poised to test the all-important 1553-1556 July and 2000 highs on the S&P 500. The environment for stocks remains favorable through Friday, but Oct. 7 to Oct. 29 could see some manner of pullback or consolidation in the indexes. […]

Stocks started the fourth quarter on an upbeat note Monday, with the Nasdaq notching a new post-2002 high and the Dow setting a new all-time high, as traders looked past disappointing earnings news from Citigroup on optimism that the worst of the credit crunch is over. Investors also shook off a slightly weaker than expected […]

Stocks closed out their best September since 1998 with modest losses Friday. With the major indexes up 4% for the month, investors took some profits despite strong consumer spending and tame inflation data, as cautious comments from former Fed chair Alan Greenspan and other economic officials had the market on the defensive. 3Com soared 34% […]

Investors continued to look on the bright side Thursday, looking past a larger than expected decline in new home sales to cheer a big drop in weekly jobless claims that suggested the economy remains strong. Micron Technology was a big winner for the technology sector, rising 5.7% to $11.36 after Lazard Capital said it expects […]

The Nasdaq moved within 1% of its post-2002 high on Wednesday, as the stock market continued to erase its losses from the summer credit market-fueled meltdown. The latest catalysts for the bulls were a GM strike settlement, a weak durable goods report that left investors hoping for more Federal Reserve rate cuts, and reports of […]

Stocks reversed early losses Tuesday, shaking off dismal home sales reports and warnings from Lowe’s and Target on hopes that Federal Reserve rate cuts will help revive the economy. Technology shares led the comeback, paced by Microsoft’s 1.7% gain on reports of strong Halo 3 sales and a pending investment in Facebook. Microsoft shares closed […]

The action off the bottom we identified in mid-August has been bullish indeed, but now comes the real test. Bullish sentiment is rising (Investors Intelligence bulls-bears have gone from 40-37 to 54-27), commercial futures traders continue to pare long positions in the big S&P futures contract, and the NYSE advance-decline line is lagging badly, all […]

Stocks finished lower Monday, as an early rally in technology shares failed to inspire blue chip investors, who fretted over a strike at GM and the state of the housing and credit markets. Some profit-taking was likely after last week’s big Federal Reserve-inspired rally, and news of the first strike by the UAW against GM […]

Good news from GM , McDonald’s and Countrywide Financial sent blue chip stocks soaring Thursday, but tech stocks lagged after Alcatel Lucent warned. Alcatel Lucent shares fell 9% after the company said it expects growth to be flat to slightly up, below its previous guidance of mid-single digit growth. The company said its new guidance […]

Stocks finished modestly lower Wednesday after a rally on hopes for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week came undone after crude oil hit $80 a barrel for the first time. Also of no help to stock market bulls was Texas Instruments’ admission that it will merely meet estimates for the current quarter. […]

Just a week after getting sued by Network Appliance over its ZFS file system, Sun Microsystems has acquired the high-end Lustre file system from Cluster File Systems Inc. A Sun spokesperson said the acquisition “has nothing to do with the NetApp lawsuit,” and was intended to expand Sun’s HPC product portfolio. Greg Schulz, senior analyst […]