Bulls Fend Off Sellers

Bulls shook off weaker than expected durable orders on Friday to send stocks sharply higher.

The Nasdaq surged 32 to 1331, the S&P 500 gained 15 to 897, and the Dow rose 126 to 8443. Volume fell to 1.35 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.47 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 22 to 10 on the NYSE, and 20 to 11 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 72% on the NYSE, and 78% on the Nasdaq.

Emulex soared 30% on better than expected results. Brocade rose 12% on hopes for a positive presentation on Tuesday.

Amazon slipped 2.8% on valuation concerns despite better than expected results.

Manugistics surged 32% on takeover rumors.

Rising on earnings reports were SunGard , Electronic Arts , TriQuint , VeriSign , MicroStrategy , Stamps.com and Zoran .

BMC , JDS and Flextronics fell on their reports, and Digital Insight plunged.

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Note: There will be no technical commentary Monday and Tuesday. It will return Wednesday.

A nice save of the May downtrend line breakouts on the Dow (first chart) and S&P (second chart) today, but a number negatives remain. Chief among them is that volume and new highs have yet to expand at these levels. For a rally to continue, buyers must be willing to pay higher prices, and that has not been the case yet at 8500 on the Dow and 900 on the S&P. Critical support for next week remains the May downtrend lines, at about 8250 on the Dow and 875 on the S&P. Resistance is 8726-8762 on the Dow, and 911-924 on the S&P. The equity put-call ratio continues to show skepticism of this rally, which is a plus, but the VIX (third chart), the options volatility index, plunged today, showing the first hint of complacency. In short, the signs do not appear to be there for a major top, but this rally could use some more backing and filling until it gets it right. The Nasdaq (fourth chart) is closing in on tough resistance in the 1340-1347 area. 1388 is possible if the index can clear that level. Support is 1300, 1267, 1240 and 1220.

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