A revenue warning from Intel that wasn’t as bad as expected sent stocks sharply higher on Friday. Investors also cheered a weaker-than-expected unemployment report, even though it revealed some wage pressures.
The ISDEX soared 38 to 487, and the Nasdaq surged 141 to 2894. The S&P 500 rose 27 to 1371, and the Dow climbed 123 to 10,741. Volume rose to 528 million shares on the NYSE and 1 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by 17 to 9 on the NYSE and 24 to 10 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.
Eighteen of 50 ISDEX stocks posted 10% gains. Among the biggest point gainers were former leaders like Juniper , up 11 1/16 to 159 15/16, Broadcom
, up 15 7/8 to 126 1/2, Checkpoint
, up 14 15/16 to 152 7/8, and Ariba
, up 8 7/8 to 82 7/8, just below 83 1/2 resistance.
Openwave rose 13 1/2 to 71 1/2, Tibco
surged 9 7/8 to 68 7/8, Wireless Facilities
climbed 6 to 40 3/4, Inktomi
added 5 3/4 to 41 15/16, and i2
rose 5 15/16 to 63.
AskJeeves plunged 5 31/32 to 3 23/32 on an earnings warning and news that CEO Rob Wrubel is stepping down.
Yahoo continued to struggle on earnings concerns, slipping 1/8 to 34 3/4, but off its low of 32 1/8.
Ciena surged 16 7/16 to 112 1/16 a day after beating estimates and raising forecasts. The company also announced the successful completion of interoperability tests with Cisco
, up 2 3/16 to 52 1/8.
StarMedia Network tacked on 3/16 to 3 1/16 on a Bear Stearns Buy rating and $8-$9 price target.
Some technical comments on the market: Note: We are now including 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
Almost there. The Nasdaq 100 would complete its inverted head-and-shoulders bottom with a close above 2940, about 55 points above today’s high. The minimum upside predicted by the pattern would be 3350. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index would easily negate its recent breakdown with a close here (635).
The ISDEX is also forming an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern, and would take it out with a close of 500.
The S&P 500 is holding its lower support line, but we have to wonder if its forthcoming advance will form a bearish rising wedge, indicating a possible retest of the lows. Purely speculation at this point. 1400 is critical resistance.
The Dow is so far holding the 10,600-10,650 range, a source of much support and resistance lately. A break of 10,600 could indicate a retest of the 10,380 area, and a move above 10,900 would be a positive.
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