Paul Shread

Texas Instruments had no surprises in its mid-quarter financial update late Tuesday, reaffirming its earnings and sales guidance for the current quarter. TI said it expects its revenues to fall between $3.56 billion and $3.72 billion and earnings to come in between 49 and 53 cents a share, which includes a two-cent gain from the […]

The bulls tried to rescue stocks today, but they didn’t get very far, running into sellers despite staging a nifty reversal off the lows. Such “dojis” — trading higher and lower and then ending unchanged — give us a good range to watch for Tuesday’s market: above today’s highs or today’s lows and we have […]

Intel shares got an early boost Monday after the chip giant raised sales guidance, but like the rest of the market, it ended the day flat on worries about what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates when it meets next week. Intel said it expects current quarter sales of $9.4-$9.8 billion, at the […]

Stocks plunged Friday on news that U.S. employment fell in August for the first time in four years. The economy shed 4,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported, well below estimates of a 110,000-job increase. The news raised fears that the growing credit market crisis could send the economy into recession and will also […]

The Federal Reserve has little choice but to cut interest rates after today’s jobs report or it will risk not only a revolt by financial markets, but a full-blown credit crunch and recession. Odds are now for a 25 basis point rate cut on Sept. 18, but 50 seems like a better choice given the […]

The Nasdaq (first chart below) held its 50-day average again today, giving the bulls some hope heading into Friday’s jobs report. The indexes traded in a narrow range within yesterday’s trading ranges, making first resistance levels important for tomorrow. To the upside, 2621 is first resistance for the Nasdaq, with 2628-2634, 2650 and 2675 above […]

Stocks posted modest gains Thursday, as solid productivity and retail sales reports and falling jobless claims helped investors overcome jitters ahead of Friday’s monthly jobs report. ADC Telecom was a big winner for the tech sector, gaining 8% after tripling its earnings from the year-ago quarter. Apple lost ground again, this time after CEO Steve […]

With VMworld fast approaching, storage vendors are busy trotting out their products for backing up virtual machines. FalconStor, Onaro, HDS, DataCore, EqualLogic, Agami and, of course, EMC are just some of the vendors trotting out VMware-related storage announcements this week and next, and Network Appliance hit the road in recent weeks to make its case […]

We should have pointed it out yesterday, but it’s once again time to cite a study by Robert Colby (Encyclopedia of Technical Market Indicators) that cash remains the best option historically from Sept. 5 to Oct. 27. Over a century of market history, that was the correct place to be 62% of the time and […]

A steep decline in pending home sales renewed fears of a credit crunch on Wednesday, sending stocks tumbling. The National Association of Realtors reported a 12.2% decline in existing home contract signings in July, before the worst of the credit crunch hit in August, and the Federal Reserve’s monthly Beige Book summary of economic conditions […]

Network Appliance has sued Sun Microsystems, claiming Sun’s ZFS file system technology infringes on seven NetApp patents. In the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, NetApp is also seeking a declaration that it is not infringing on three of Sun’s U.S. patents and that those patents are invalid. The dispute affects […]

The Nasdaq (first chart below) took out its August high today, the first index to take out that important reaction high from the July-August decline. Next resistance for the techs is 2675, and 2600 and 2576 are support. The S&P (second chart) faces the same resistance level at 1504, and 1477-1480 is first support. The […]