Paul Shread

Note: The Technical Analysis column will return on Monday, Dec. 18. The bulls appear to be having as much trouble as the bears here, as the market continues to wind up in a tight range. The Nasdaq (first chart below) is range-bound between 2430 and 2450; a strong break of that symmetrical triangle should be […]

Apple shares rose on an upgrade Wednesday, but the rest of the market barely budged. Apple gained more than 3% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $110, saying that new products will continue to push the stock higher, and investors shook off fears of slowing iTunes sales that weighed the […]

Downside remains tough to come by, suggesting that the next move for the market may be up. The NYSE advance-decline (first chart below) is showing a modest negative divergence here, but with the bank stocks (second chart) breaking out of a two-month consolidation, it may not last. We continue to focus on the S&P (third […]

Stocks posted modest losses Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said it remains more inclined to raise interest rates than to lower them. The Fed’s statement was largely expected, however, so stocks ended the day well off their lows. In leaving interest rates unchanged, the Fed acknowledged that economic reports have been mixed as of late, […]

With the Nasdaq underperforming and the market turning choppy here, stocks may be set up to sell the news on the Fed meeting tomorrow, which would certainly be surprising, since there’s little doubt about the outcome: no change in rates and the Fed remains on guard against inflation. The market appears to be a little […]

Hitachi Data Systems made its long-awaited entry into the high-end NAS market on Monday with a five-year OEM deal with BlueArc. The deal, which also includes a “minority position” in BlueArc, gives HDS “the most advanced file and block system available in the marketplace today,” according to HDS CEO Dave Roberson. The deal is a […]

The Nasdaq made a valiant effort, but still registered a sell signal under Gerald Appel’s Nasdaq-NYSE relative strength indicator (first chart below). There were a couple of troubling aspects to today’s action. First, the indicator acted as resistance instead of support as the day wore on, the opposite of the pattern we’ve seen recently. And […]

Stocks posted modest gains Friday after the Labor Department’s monthly unemployment report showed solid jobs growth and tame wage inflation. The economy added a better than expected 132,000 jobs last month, and wages rose a less than expected 0.2%. The market’s reaction was muted, however, as the strong jobs growth removed hopes that the Federal […]

Outside days on all the indexes today, and Nasdaq underperformance (first chart below) has reached a critical level — a pretty uninspiring setup heading into tomorrow’s unemployment report. The market has historically been weak in early December, so we may be in for a repeat. Even if the Nasdaq registers a sell signal under Gerald […]

A report that Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone may be delayed a few months gave investors an excuse to take profits Thursday. Apple shares fell 3% after CIBC analysts said the iPhone might not show up until the second quarter of 2007, a few months later than expected. Coupled with nervousness ahead of Friday’s unemployment report, the […]

Stocks aren’t going down after hitting resistance yesterday, so that’s a hopeful sign for more upside. The one negative we’d note is that Nasdaq underperformance (first chart below) is becoming an issue again, but a strong response to Friday’s jobs report would solve that problem. Sentiment is perhaps a little too bullish, witness this week’s […]

An Oracle downgrade and a Yahoo reorganization weighed on the tech sector Wednesday. Oracle was the most active stock on the Nasdaq, falling 5% after Lehman Brothers told investors to take profits ahead of the company’s Dec. 18 earnings report. Analyst Israel Hernandez said he expects Oracle’s database results to disappoint. Yahoo shares, meanwhile, lost […]