Stocks posted broad gains on Friday, building on Thursday’s huge gains. eBay and Commerce One led Internet stocks higher.
The ISDEX gained 22 to 677, and the Nasdaq rose 89 to 3507. The S&P 500 climbed 13 to 1401, and the Dow rose 50 to 10,193. Volume declined to 553 million shares on the NYSE and 1.03 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by 13 to 11 on the NYSE and 21 to 14 on the Nasdaq. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar and reported earnings. For after hours quotes and news, visit our after hours trading site.
eBay , up 4 7/8 to 62 1/16, and Commerce One
, up 6 1/2 to 70 3/8, both beat estimates by 3 cents after the close on Thursday, eBay with 4-cent earnings and Commerce One with a 9-cent loss.
E.piphany soared 27 1/8 to 91 7/8 after beating estimates by 15 cents with a 17-cent loss and declaring a 3-for-2 stock split. But Exodus Communications
lost 2 5/8 to 35 7/16 despite beating estimates, and Ventro
, off 1 7/16 to 4 1/2, missed revenue estimates. Open Market
, off 1/8 to 3, also missed estimates.
Register.com surged 1 3/16 to 8 1/16 after beating estimates by 8 cents with a break-even quarter. GoTo.com
, up 1 7/8 to 12 15/16, beat estimates by 11 cents with a 22-cent loss. JDS Uniphase
bolted 11 1/32 to 100 31/32 after merger partner SDL
posted blow-out numbers. Critical Path
rose 2 9/16 to 54 5/8 on better-than-expected numbers, and Scient
added 1 13/16 to 20 after beating reduced estimates.
Homestore.com beat estimates by 2 cents with 1-cent earnings, but the stock was off 7/8 to 28 1/2. NetIQ
soared 16 1/8 to 94 5/8 after beating estimates by 6 cents with 16-cent earnings. Digital River
, up 1 5/8 to 6, and Packeteer
, up 5 15/16 to 26, also beat estimates. Packeteer posted a surprise 1-cent profit, 3 cents ahead of estimates. Kana Communications
, up 9 1/16 to 28 3/16, beat estimates by a penny with a 22-cent loss.
Ticketmaster Online , off 1/16 12, MP3.com
, off 3/8 to 4 1/4, and InsWeb
, up 1/16 to 2, all beat estimates. AutoWeb
, off 1/8 to 7/8, missed by 15 cents with a 29-cent loss.
Ariba rose 5 to 135 1/2 on an alliance with Softbank to build B2B marketplaces in Japan.
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
One last look at our charts from yesterday. The sell-off’s failure to fill the Nasdaq’s October 1999 gap at around 2900 is very significant: it implies that the primary trend even throughout this year’s steep sell-off was bullish. Why? Because it was a major breakout gap, and the market’s failure to fill it means the bullish trend is still intact. As we said repeatedly, old tops make good bottoms: everyone who missed the Nasdaq’s extraordinary run-up from October 1999 to April 2000 got a second chance to get in. This is how bears become bulls. The volume and force behind Nasdaq 3000 is now similar to that around Dow 7500 from October 1997 to October 1998. It’s now support to be reckoned with. If that gap ever
fills, we’ll know we’re in trouble.
The Nasdaq is acting like resistance doesn’t exist, but it’s bound to take a breather soon. The index cleared its September downtrend line at about 3400 and kept running. We said major resistance could be found at around 3500, around the August 3521 bottom and the 38% Fibonacci level from the 4259 to 3026 decline (3094), but the index ran right through that. Next resistance could be 3550-3600 and then 3700.
The S&P 500 is also back above its September downtrend line at about 1380. It also cleared the 38% retracement level of 1391 and 1400 resistance. 1420, where the index broke down recently, could pose some resistance.
The ISDEX is also back above its September downtrend line at around 625, and the index also took out 650 resistance. Also in that chart, notice how 800 could pose resistance eventually. Next resistance is 700. The Dow took out its September downtrend line around 10,175 this morning and also cleared 10,200 resistance. The whole 10,200-10,300 area could be tough for the Dow; above 10,300 the bulls are clearly in charge. The Dow looks weaker than the other indexes, and we would not rule out another trip to the 9700 area in the weeks or months ahead.
One final word on the S&P’s 1994 logarithmic trendline at about 1350. That line represents a 200% advance in 6 years, well beyond the market’s historical average. It’s not likely to hold up forever, but for now it seems okay. A close below that line by 2% would be a big negative.
