Stocks continued to put the memory of last week’s sharp sell-off behind them on Tuesday, as blue chip issues led the market higher.
The ISDEX rose 11 to 680, and the Nasdaq added 25 to 3494. The S&P 500 climbed 10 to 1405, and the Dow surged 135 to 10,407. Volume rose to 500 million shares on the NYSE and 805 million on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by 15 to 10 on the NYSE and 19 to 15 on the Nasdaq. The big economic reports for the week are Thursday’s employment cost index and Friday’s GDP report. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar and reported earnings. For after hours quotes and news, visit our after hours trading site.
Amazon.com tacked on 1 1/4 to 31 1/4 ahead of its earnings report due out after the close.
MarchFirst imploded 6 9/16 to 5 1/4 after missing estimates by 19 cents with 1-cent earnings. Scient
lost 1 3/4 to 20 1/2 as Internet consultants’ woes continued.
DoubleClick rose 1 11/16 to 14 13/16 after announcing a long-term agreement with NBC Internet
.
About.com climbed 1 1/4 to 26 1/16 after beating estimates by 5 cents with an 18-cent loss. Extended Systems
slipped 1 1/2 to 38 1/2 after the company’s 15-cent loss beat estimates by 3 cents.
Ashford.com was unchanged at 2 7/16 after beating estimates by 8 cents with a 19-cent loss. The company also raised forward guidance and predicted profitability by the end of 2001. Ameritrade
, up 7/16 to 15 15/16, beat estimates by 3 cents with a breakeven quarter. ServiceWare.com
, up 3/8 to 5 7/8, beat estimates by a penny with an 11-cent loss.
Globespan , up 9 7/8 to 100 1/4, and Metromedia Fiber
, up 4 1/4 to 21 5/8, gave a boost to DSL stocks after beating estimates handily. Covad
rose 3/8 to 7 7/16, and Rhythms
surged 1 7/32 to 4 21/32.
Cobalt slipped 5/8 to 2 3/8 after beating estimates by 9 cents with a 35-cent loss.
Broadcom gave back 4 1/16 to 247 11/16 after trading as high as 261 3/16 on news that it will be added to the Nasdaq 100
Monday. Ariba
, which will join the index on Friday, slipped 1/16 to 132 7/16.
Blue Martini tacked on 2 3/4 to 41 1/2 on a multi-year alliance with Hewlett-Packard
.
Some technical comments on the market: Note: We are now including charts with the technical market commentary; just click on the links in the story below to go to them. If you have trouble accessing the charts via the e-mail newsletter version, try this link: http://www.afterhourstrading.com/column.html
If stocks finish on a strong note, we could get our high-volume follow-through rally (a 1% gain in volume that is higher than the day before), which would confirm that at least a short-term bottom is in and the trend is up. All of the major indexes broke small bull flags to the upside this morning, and could have more room to run before they need to consolidate again. The Nasdaq continues to struggle with its 38% retracement level of 3494 and the August bottom of 3521. 3600-3700 could also prove tough resistance, and above that is the 62% retracement level of 3790, and 3830-3860, where the index broke its May trendline. A comparable point on the S&P 500 is 1450, where the index broke a large rising wedge. A failure around those levels would be bearish.
To the downside, we want to stay above the Nasdaq’s September downtrend line at about 3350 (also in that chart, note the bull flag that was broken to the upside this morning). The S&P 500 cannot close below its 1994 logarithmic trendline at about 1350 by more than 2%, or 1323. 1380 could also provide some support on the S&P. The S&P broke through its secondary downtrend line at about 1405 this morning (also note the bull flag that formed right beneath that line). 1420-1425 could also pose some resistance.
The ISDEX continues to run into resistance at the 700 level. Next resistance is 725-750, and first support is 650. The Dow is back above 10,300 resistance, but turned back at its secondary downtrend line around 10,450.
