Better than expected manufacturing data helped stocks end a down week on an up note on Friday.
The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ rose 1 to 159, and the Nasdaq recovered 13 to 1805. The S&P 500 added 4 to 1133, and the Dow rose 30 to 9,949. Volume shrank to 918 million shares on the NYSE, and 1.22 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 16 to 13 on the NYSE, and 19 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.
Better than expected readings in the Chicago PMI and Factory Orders sent stocks to early strong gains, but they gave up all of those gains before rebounding to finish on the plus side. Investors will get another look at manufacturing data when the NAPM comes out on Tuesday. Investors shrugged off a weaker than expected Michigan consumer sentiment reading.
Novellus fell 2.42 to 44.31 after becoming the latest tech company to warn. Rambus
rose .18 to 6.23 after reaffirming guidance.
Tech Data , up 2.38 to 40.90, continued to gain on its better than expected earnings report.
Intel rose .94 to 28.07 after Salomon Smith Barney’s Jonathan Joseph said Pentium IV demand is ahead of schedule, and said he expected the company to guide estimates to the low end of the range next Thursday.
Excite@Home fell .10 to .42 on news that Cox and Comcast will terminate their existing distribution agreements. The company also hired an advisor to explore strategic alternatives.
Juniper fell .46 to 13.97 on a USB Piper Jaffray downgrade to Neutral.
Openwave climbed .29 to 16.11 despite comments that GPRS handsets are being delayed in Europe.
EMC rose .15 to 15.46 despite negative comments from SoundView.
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
The Dow (first chart) had its first monthly close below the 40-month moving average today since the bull market began in 1982, following the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 under that important line. The index also had its first monthly close below 10,000 since February, right before the index’s steep sell-off to 9100 in March. The Dow and the S&P 500 (second and third charts) barely made a dent in the very reliable bearish candlestick patterns formed this week called “three black crows.” The indexes should go no higher than 10,200 and 1156, respectively, on any rally before selling resumes. First support is 9869 on the Dow and 1125 on the S&P. The S&P formed a flag on the intraday chart today (fourth chart) that looks like a perfect set-up for a quick retest of the April lows of 1080-1100. It wouldn’t take much of an up move on Tuesday to negate that pattern, and a move below 1130 on Tuesday would break that pattern. First resistance on the Nasdaq (fifth chart) is 1817, and 1777 is critical support. The Nasdaq 100 (not pictured) barely recovered its 1990 trendline at 1468 today, the one potentially good sign. This weekend marks another cycle turn date, that old full moon, which is usually a move down.
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.
