Tech Rally Fades

A strong open on Wednesday gave way to profit-taking, led by Broadcom, which traded 10% off its high at midday.

The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ rose 13 to 452, and the Nasdaq added 8 to 2848. The S&P 500 was unchanged at 1360, and the Dow slipped 11 to 10,638. Volume rose to 575 million shares on the NYSE, and 1.1 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by 14 to 12 on the NYSE, and 20 to 14 on the Nasdaq. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testifies on Capitol Hill tomorrow, less than a week before the Fed's next meeting. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar at http://www.wsrn.com/apps/earnings/internet.xpl and reported earnings at http://www.wsrn.com/apps/earnings/ireported.xpl. For after hours quotes and news, visit our after hours trading site at http://www.afterhourstrading.com.

Corning , Akamai and Exodus head the list of companies reporting tonight.

Broadcom traded as high as 139 1/2 after beating estimates by a penny with 32-cent earnings, and revenues of $376 million topped estimates of $370 million. But Robertson Stephens raised concerns about the sustainability of the company's growth-through-acquisition strategy, sending the stock down 6 7/8 to 126 9/16.

Siebel Systems rose 2 1/2 to 81 1/8 on earnings of 20 cents, a nickel ahead of estimates. Compaq surged 2.18 to 2.23 after beating estimates by 2 cents with 30-cent earnings.

Digital River soared 1 3/8 to 8 7/8 after beating estimates by 10 cents with an 11-cent loss. WebTrends tacked on 1 1/2 to 35 1/4 after beating estimates by a penny with 11-cent earnings. Resonate slipped 1/32 to 4 13/16 after the company's 25-cent loss beat by a penny.

1-800-Flowers.com slipped 13/32 to 5 9/32 after beating by 3 cents with a 16-cent loss. Avanex plunged 14 9/16 to 67 5/16 after topping estimates but failing to raise forward guidance.

InterNAP lost 1 9/16 to 8 7/16 after matching estimates with a 41-cent loss. Delano Technology slipped 3/16 to 4 5/16 after the company's 35-cent loss met estimates. New Era of Networks added 9/16 to 5 1/4 after beating estimates by a penny with a 34-cent loss.

FVC.com missed by 5 cents with a 35-cent loss, and the stock dropped 13/32 to 2. CyberSource added 1/18 to 3 1/8 after bettering estimates by a penny with a 44-cent loss.

RealNetworks fell 13/16 to 11 1/4 after Merrill Lynch issued a Neutral rating and said Microsoft could do to RNWK what it did to Netscape.

iManage surged 1 7/16 to 7 13/16 on a deal with Cisco . Portal Software soared 2 1/32 to 10 9/16 on a deal with privately-held TellMe Networks.

Netopia , up 13/16 to 9, will be acquired by Proxim .

Some technical comments on the market: Note: We are now including charts in the technical market commentary. If you can't get the charts via the e-mail newsletter version, try this link: http://www.afterhourstrading.com/column.html

The Nasdaq turned back today after running into its smaller rising channel broken Monday (the red line). While that is a negative, it's interesting to note that the Nasdaq's movement since Friday has formed a potential new rising channel (the gray lines). If that lower gray line holds, it would be a positive development. With Alan Greenspan speaki