Microsoft, Yahoo Surge After Hours

Microsoft and Yahoo surged after hours on Wednesday on better than expected earnings news, capping a modest up day for the market.

The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ fell 5 to 204, and the Nasdaq rose 9 to 1972. The S&P 500 lost 1 to 1180, and the Dow climbed 65 to 10,241. Volume rose to 1.3 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.7 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 17 to 13 on the NYSE, and 21 to 15 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 bell, Microsoft , Yahoo and Sonus Networks all soared on better than expected earnings news. Microsoft preannounced better than expected revenues, and Yahoo reaffirmed its full-year outlook. Motorola also climbed after topping estimates. Nasdaq futures traded up a stunning 78 points.

During the day, DoubleClick plunged 1.62 to 10.40, breaking an uptrend at 11.50 in place since December, after saying that the online advertising environment won’t improve for another year. Compaq rose .69 to 14.45 despite issuing a revenue warning.

Comverse Technology plunged 12.22 to 26.80 on an earnings warning. Openwave and Ulticom dropped in sympathy.

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

Some badly needed good news tonight. Our prediction for a 1-3 day rally and then more downside will likely be tested here. Keep an eye on the close compared to the open tomorrow. A big gap up could easily create a black candlestick (a close lower than the open), which would be a negative. The April rally was marked by big gaps and white candlesticks, a show of strength. The Nasdaq (first chart) should gap right over 2000 resistance tomorrow, which would be a positive, but create another pesky gap here. Oddly, the move should come after today’s negative action, where the index filled a big breakout gap from April 17 at 1941.57 and then fell below that level, a technical negative. It will be a big surprise if tomorrow’s rally can hold. The 2028 and 2050-2060 level could provide resistance. The S&P 500 (second chart) should open below critical resistance, the 1203-1207 level; that may be the one level to watch. The Dow (third chart) faces first resistance at 10,250-10,300, and a move above 10,475 would be a plus.

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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