Big Blue could have investors singing the blues again on Thursday, after the company missed revenue estimates after the close on Wednesday. Stocks bounced back from steep losses during the day, but still finished in the red.
The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 11 to 203, and the Nasdaq dropped 51 to 2016. The S&P 500 declined 6 to 1207, and the Dow slipped 36 to 10,569. Volume slipped to 1.2 billion shares on the NYSE, but rose slightly to 1.7 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 17 to 13 on the NYSE, and 23 to 13 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, IBM fell 2 points after missing revenue estimates of $22.6 billion by $1 billion. Siebel
, Mercury Interactive
and i2
declined on their earnings reports, but Broadcom
and Travelocity
rose on their reports.
During the day, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate that economic risks remain and that rate cuts haven’t begun to be felt yet, a more negative view of the economy than traders had hoped for.
Intel dropped 1.40 to 28.50 after matching estimates, but lowering revenue estimates. The company stuck to its contention that business will improve in the second half of the year. Apple Computer
plunged 4.68 to 20.42 after missing revenue estimates and lowering its forward outlook.
Real Networks fell 1.84 to 8.94 after missing estimates by a penny, lowering guidance and announcing the resignation of CFO Paul Bialek for personal reasons. Bialek will stay on as a strategic advisor to the company.
Veritas plunged 13.82 to 36.60 on an earnings warning. EMC
dropped 2.34 to 18.05 on a difficult outlook.
Interwoven fell 2.57 to 12.51 on a warning. Dell
lost 1.54 to 27.20 after announcing that it will enter the network switch market, taking on Cisco
and others.
AOL Time Warner dropped 4.90 to 44.55 after reaffirming estimates, but saying that upside is limited.
RF Micro Devices rose .81 to 20.12 after matching estimates and giving an optimistic outlook.
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
Tomorrow is about the last day for a possible hard down day, and then the cycle picture begins to turn a little more positive for the next two weeks, and the market could turn up in the Friday-Monday timeframe. The Dow (first chart) could be forming either a bearish pennant pattern (the converging trendlines), or an inverse head and shoulders bottom. A move above 10,650 or below 10,430 would determine whether the pattern is bullish or bearish. The Nasdaq (second chart) could be steepening its downtrend (the blue lines). First support is 2000, and below that 1972 is the next likely target. A move above 2075 would be a plus. The S&P 500 (third chart) got rejected at a downtrend line at about 1212 again today. 1200 is important support.
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.
