Stocks End The Day Mixed
Stocks came back from early losses on Thursday to end the day mixed.
The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 3 to 193, and the Nasdaq slipped 3 to 1963. The S&P 500 was unchanged at 1183, and the Dow added 5 to 10,298. Volume was unchanged at 1.1 billion shares on the NYSE, but declined to 1.45 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17 to 13 on the NYSE, but decliners led 19 to 16 on the Nasdaq. 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.
After the close, WebMD
During the day, Wireless Facilities
Cisco
Nortel
Visual Networks
Openwave
Nokia
BEA Systems
Verity
Oracle
Ciena
Microsoft
Some technical comments on the market: Note: We include 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
One promising sign today was that all the major indexes formed hammers or dojis today, candlestick patterns signaling support and indecision, which can mark a potential rally attempt. At a minimum, it makes today's lows important support: 10,200 on the Dow, 1175 on the S&P, and 1941 on the Nasdaq. However, the Dow's action to the upside (first chart) was less impressive: the index was repelled at the critical support broken yesterday. That line should be in the 10,310-10,320 range tomorrow. So we have clear support and resistance, and a very narrow range: not much of a move needed to suggest short-term direction. The S&P 500 (second chart) has support in the 1155-1175 range, and resistance at 1190-1200. The Nasdaq (third chart) has support at 1941, and resistance in the 2000-2010 range. One big negative today was that the put-call ratio declined, and measures of options volatility barely budged: still no fear out there. Traders are more worried about missing the bottom than they are about the possibility of a wider sell-off.
matched estimates with a 7-cent loss, but missed revenue estimates and warned.
soared 1.73 to 9.70 after beating estimates by a dime with pro forma earnings of 4 cents a share and guiding forward estimates higher. However, on a fully diluted basis, the company lost 50 cents a share, including a $13.9 million bad debt provision related to Metricom, which should do some damage to WFII's low price-to-earnings ratio.
recovered .37 to 18.35 a day after selling off on a weak earnings report and forecast.
slipped .06 to 7.56 on news of a $1.5 billion debt offering.
climbed .70 to 3.90 on positive comments from Goldman Sachs.
, off 1.82 to 20.01, continued to lose ground on news of slowing subscriber growth at KDDI, a big OPWV customer.
lost .60 to 19.50 on rumors of an earnings warning, but analysts said it was too soon.
rose .45 to 20.24 despite concerns about the company's earnings report next week. IBM
slipped .11 to 104.08 on weak economic news from Europe, which accounts for 40% of revenues.
dropped 3.02 to 9.68 on an earnings warning.
lost .25 to 16.05 on cautious comments from Goldman Sachs. Sun Microsystems
, off .43 to 16.82, also lost ground on Goldman comments about difficult business conditions.
rose .26 to 31.14 after DB Alex. Brown said it expects the company to beat estimates next week, but to lower fiscal 2002 guidance.
rose .16 to 65.02 after holding critical 64.20 support.