Paul Shread

The S&P (first chart below) is at a critical juncture here, a rising resistance line that would signal a slowing rate of ascent if the big caps can’t break through. On the other hand, breaking through rising resistance would be impressive strength. Either way, 1417 is the big level for tomorrow, with 1426 next above […]

Stronger than expected growth in the service sector coupled with tame inflation gave investors hope Tuesday that the broader economy won’t follow manufacturing into a recession. The national ISM services report came in at a much stronger-than-expected 58.9, and while third-quarter productivity was weaker than expected, tame wage growth in the report eased inflation fears […]

Onaro took the wraps off the latest version of its flagship storage resource management (SRM) software this week, adding application-centric management, among other features. Onaro, which boasts more than 70 customers and is in its fourth profitable quarter, is expanding beyond its initial change management focus into broader storage services management. SANscreen Foundation 3.5 includes […]

A new high for the S&P (first chart below) suggests that another mini-correction might be over, as monthly inflows appear to have saved the market once again. You could make a living trading just around the first of the month, as Norm Fosback pointed out 30 years ago. First resistance on the big caps is […]

Stocks posted strong gains on Monday, driven by yet another spate of corporate mergers. In the tech sector, LSI acquired Agere , while Qualcomm picked up Bluetooth assets from RF Micro Devices . Meanwhile, the merger of Mellon Financial and Bank of New York lifted financial shares, helping the broader market overcome weakness in Pfizer […]

It was touch and go, but the indexes held some important levels on Friday, not the least of which was the Nasdaq just barely hanging onto its buy signal from early September (see first chart below). That said, the market’s action has undeniably turned a little wobbly here and options behavior hasn’t been as panicky […]

News that U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly contracted in November sent stocks sprawling on Friday, but they fought back to close well off their lows. The national ISM index fell to 49.5 last month, well below expectations and the lowest reading since April 2003. Readings below 50 indicate contraction. The news followed Thursday’s report that Midwest manufacturing […]

Storage vendors had another strong showing in the third quarter, led by a resurgent EMC. According to IDC, worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenue in the third quarter grew 9.9 percent from a year ago to $4.3 billion, the 14th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. The total disk storage systems market (both external and […]

Stocks turned a little wobbly again today, but first-of-the-month inflows and an ISM reading above 50 tomorrow could be all the bulls need for another rescue here. The Nasdaq (first chart below) continues to stall at its old uptrend line; 2447-2450 is resistance for tomorrow, and support is 2419 and 2408. It’s worth noting that […]

Bell Labs, the 81-year-old crown jewel of American technological innovation, is now part of a French company. Alcatel and Lucent will operate under the new name of Alcatel-Lucent beginning Friday, trading under the ticker symbol “ALU.” The merged company’s R&D unit will remain in New Jersey because of national security concerns and in deference to […]

Backup security continues to be an issue, if a recent advisory from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is any indication (see Backup Software Under Attack). Jon Oltsik, senior analyst for information security at the Enterprise Strategy Group, said backup security “is improving, albeit slowly. Storage people still don’t realize that a storage […]

An impressive recovery by the bulls today, with the Dow and S&P (first two charts below) recovering Monday’s breakdowns. That’s a real sign of strength that could catch traders looking the wrong way. One negative we’d note is that the CBOE equity put-call ratio got a little low for comfort today at .52, so the […]