Bulls Hang On

Stocks recovered on Thursday after investors shook off fears about the effect of the pending Enron bankruptcy.

The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ rose 3 to 180, and the Nasdaq gained 45 to 1933. The S&P 500 climbed 11 to 1140, and the Dow rose 117 to 9829. Volume declined to 1.37 billion shares on the NYSE, but rose to 1.93 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 19 to 11 on the NYSE, and 22 to 14 on the Nasdaq.

After the close, Novellus fell on an earnings warning. Symantec reaffirmed guidance, and Novell topped estimates.

During the day, Cisco climbed 5% on positive analyst comments and on speculation that it may be stealing market share from Juniper .

Sun Microsystems rose 5% on optimism about the company’s current quarter, and Siebel climbed 6% on a positive conference presentation.

FreeMarkets soared 33% on a positive preannouncement.

Brocade climbed 10% after topping estimates by a penny with 5-cent earnings and reaffirming estimates, and Nvidia added 4% on news that it will replace Enron in the S&P 500.

Broadcom and VeriSign slipped on their conference presentations.

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

Nice comeback by the bulls today. The S&P (first chart) broke down out of a bearish rising wedge this morning, but recovered to close back above that line, which should be at about 1135-1138 tomorrow, but it could be redrawn at about 1130 if the S&P can find support there. Resistance is 1142, 1146-1148, 1155, and 1163. The Dow (second chart) bounced right at its lower rising wedge boundary, providing a boost for the market, so that lower trendline is now the most important support for the market; it should be at about 9725 for tomorrow. First support is about 9770, and resistance is 9830-9840, then 9900 and 9993. The Nasdaq (third chart) is a long way from critical support at 1820. Support can be found at 1922, 1915 (a big one for the up scenario), 1887, and then 1840-1860. Resistance is 1935-1941, 1957, and then 1968, a critical level. Today’s recovery keeps alive the chance for one last run at the highs for all three indexes. Monday-Thursday is a potential cycle turn window, and there are some major cycle turns coming up the following week, December 12 in particular.

Special report: For a free introduction to technical chart patterns and an overview of last year’s action in the stock market, visit http://www.internetstockreport.com/guest/article/0,1785,2571_500051,00.html.

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