Earnings Season Kicks Into High Gear

April may be more than half over, but earnings season is just getting started.

About 150 tech companies will report results this week, and almost as many will report next week.

Among the big names reporting this week: Lucent on Tuesday morning (a 2-cent profit expected); eBay , Juniper , KLA-Tencor and Qualcomm after the close on Wednesday; and Microsoft , Amazon and Broadcom after the bell on Thursday.

As if that weren’t enough, traders will also be scouring testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Tuesday and Wednesday for clues on the direction of interest rates.

Tech investors were in an optimistic mood ahead of all that news, bidding the Nasdaq higher in a rebound from last week’s heavy selling.

The Nasdaq surged 24 to 2020, the S&P 500 added 1 to 1135, and the Dow slipped 14 to 10,437. Volume declined to 1.19 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.69 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a few issues on the NYSE, while advancers led 17-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 50% on the NYSE, and 76% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 115-35 on the NYSE, and 115-21 on the Nasdaq.

After the close, Netopia plunged after missing estimates. j2 Global , JDA Software and SupportSoft beat estimates.

During the day, Digital River surged 28% after beating estimates, raising guidance and announcing plans to acquire Germany’s Element 5.

Monolithic plunged 37% after a proposed merger with Synopsis fell through.

M-Systems gained 11% after beating estimates.

Lexmark edged higher after beating estimates, while Sierra Wireless tumbled 18% on its results.

Computer Associates slipped after firing nine employees as part of an investigation into the company’s accounting practices.

Market Commentary: For our free daily market commentary and technical analysis, please visit the InternetStockReport.com home page at:

http://www.InternetStockReport.com.