Nasdaq, ISDEX Try To Regain Footing

Earnings warnings from technology companies and a downgrade to Intel kept stocks from making much headway on Wednesday, but the Nasdaq did manage to bounce off important support.

The ISDEX slipped 3 to 762, but off its low of 751, while the Nasdaq was off 3 to 3846 after bouncing at 3800, preserving its uptrend from May. The S&P 500 dropped 3 to 1478, while the Dow fell 74 to 11,158 after JP Morgan was bought out by Chase Manhattan after weeks of rumors. Volume rose to 490 million shares on the NYSE and 785 million on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 13 to 12 on the NYSE and 20 to 15 on the Nasdaq. Oracle and Red Hat report earnings tomorrow. The PPI for August will be reported tomorrow and the CPI on Friday. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar and reported earnings. For after hours quotes and news, visit our new after hours trading site.

Cisco Systems , which led the Nasdaq’s 7-day 450-point slide, recovered 1 3/8 to 60 1/4 after trading as low as 57 7/32. The technology and Internet leader broke its May uptrend line and closed below its 200-day moving average on Monday. Telecom equipment stocks have been weak on concerns that spending may be slowing. In a note titled “Uh Oh, CSCO,” UBS Warburg strategist Gail Dudack called CSCO’s fall through the 200-day moving average and $60 support could lead to a retest of the May lows for both the Nasdaq and Cisco, which bottomed at $50 in May.

Amazon.com slipped 3/4 to 41 15/16 after Lehman Brothers refused to buy into the Christmas rally scenario for the stock. Lehman maintained its Neutral rating on the stock and said Amazon’s holiday season may not be a strong as previous ones.

Inktomi was off 15/16 to 110 1/16 after announcing the acquisition of live streaming company FastForward Networks for $1.3 billion in stock.

JDS Uniphase recovered 2 1/8 to 105 5/16 after falling yesterday on concerns that its merger with SDL may be in trouble. Merrill Lynch reiterated near-term Accumulate/long-term Buy on the stock on the heels of yesterday’s analyst meeting.

eBay lost 1 11/16 to 60 1/2 despite a Banc of America Buy rating and $80 price target. TMP Worldwide gained 3 1/8 to 74 on a Banc of America upgrade to Strong Buy and $120 price target.

PSINet slipped 1/4 to 14 1/16 on a Robertson Stephens downgrade to Attractive from Buy.

Beyond.com , up 1/4 to 1 5/16, announced that it will not be delisted from the Nasdaq National Market after regaining compliance with listing requirements.

B2B stocks were generally lower except for i2 , up 7 27/64 to 168 35/64.

Allaire finally stopped sliding, up 3/8 to 21 1/2. Company officials told Internet Stock Report yesterday that they knew of no reason to account for the two-week slide from $38. Analysts have reiterated positive comments on the stock the last few days.

Some technical comments on the market: The May uptrend lines on the Nasdaq Composite (3794) and the Nasdaq 100 (3610) held this morning, as we were hoping they would. Can the bulls build on this victory? If they’re going to, we need to see a lot better than we’ve seen so far: breadth is negative, and the large-cap Nasdaq 100 is up while the broader Nasdaq Composite remains flat. The market won’t get very far until buying becomes broad-based. Given the weak bounce, a return to the May trendlines is a possibility here. To the upside, the Nasdaq faces resi

stance at the old downtrend line (3900), then the 3950-4000 area, and then again at 4100.

The ISDEX did not come close to its May uptrend line, which is now around 720. The ISDEX found support at 750 this morning. To the upside is 790-800 resistance, and then the 50% retracement level of 850, where the index’s recent rally was capped. The Dow is struggling around the 11,200 area and appears to be forming a head-and-shoulders top here. Now that the JP Morgan acquisition is out of the way, the blue chips may take a breather here. First support is around 11,100, and then every 100 points below that until the critical support of 10,850, the upper boundary of the Dow’s bearish diamond pattern, which the index broke out of last month. To the upside, resistance on the Dow is 11,300 and 11,400. The S&P 500 is back below 1480 support; next strong support is 1460. To the upside, the S&P faces resistance in the 1480-1490 range, 1500 and 1507.

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