Stocks rose strongly Thursday morning after Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said demand may be moving more in line with growth. Greenspan did not warn of any imminent interest rate hikes in his Humphrey-Hawkins testimony to the Senate, but he didn’t rule out further rate increases either.
The ISDEX rose 30 to 819, and the Nasdaq gained 102 to 4157. The S&P 500 climbed 12 to 1494 and the Dow gained 124 to 10,820. Volume rose strongly to 496 million shares on the NYSE and 798 million on the Nasdaq. Advancing issues led 14 to 10 on the NYSE and 20 to 14 on the Nasdaq. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar and reported earnings. Among the companies reporting tonight are America Online
, Inktomi
, CNET
, Phone.com
, and Alteon Websystems
.
CDnow rose 1/16 to 2 15/16 on news that the company will be acquired by German media group Bertelsmann AG. The cash-strapped company has been looking for a merger partner for some time.
JDS Uniphase soared 16 7/16 to 123 3/16 on news that the firm will be added to the S&P 500. Goldman Sachs began coverage with a Recommended List rating, calling it a core holding for technology investors.
Unlike the previous two days, companies that beat earnings estimates actually rose today.
One exception was Excite@Home , which declined 1 3/16 to 17 13/16. The company reported a second-quarter loss of 11 cents a share, a penny better than expected, but revenue came in lighter than expected. Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock from Buy to Accumulate.
Exodus Communications rose 5 5/8 to 56 7/16 after reporting a second-quarter loss of 10 cents, 2 cents better than expected. Chase H&Q upgraded the stock from Buy to Strong Buy.
PurchasePro.com gained 6 to 48 1/2 after reporting a second-quarter loss of 22 cents a share, 8 cents better than expected. Check Point Software
rose 15 5/8 to 240 1/2 on second-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share, 8 cents better than expected. About.com
added 4 3/4 to 33 after reporting a second-quarter loss of 33 cents a share, 6 cents better than analysts expected.
E.piphany gained 6 to 127 1/2 after reporting a second-quarter loss of 12 cents, 15 cents better than expected. Critical Path
gained 4 5/8 to 67 7/8 after beating estimates by 2 cents with a 34-cent loss.
Extreme Networks reported fourth-quarter earnings of 9 cents a share, 14 cents better than estimates, and declared a 2-for-1 stock split. The stock rose 19 5/16 to 135 5/16. Morgan Stanley made bullish comments on the stock and raised its price target from $125 to $200.
LifeMinders.com added 1 1/16 to 30 1/2 on a second-quarter loss of 51 cents a share, 6 cents ahead of estimates. Netro
rose 7 to 70 5/16 on news of a 2-cent loss, a nickel better than estimates. Netopia
gained 2 3/16 to 48 7/8 on earnings of 12 cents a share, 2 cents better than analysts expected. EarthWeb
was one of the few to trade lower, declining 3/8 to 16 1/8 on news of a 60-cent loss, 10 cents better than expected.
USinternetworking added 1 1/16 to 20 7/16 on news that the company has secured $175 million in commercial credit facilities to enabl
e higher customer growth rates.
Multex.com gained 2 11/16 to 26 1/8 on on news of a $30 million investment from the Munder NetNet Fund.
Some technical comments on the market: We said we might get a rally today, and we did. So how high can we go? If the Dow can get convincingly past 10,850, where its rally turned back a few days ago and where it stalled again today, then we could challenge the upper boundaries, respectively, of the Dow’s diamond pattern (11,000), the S&P 500’s large rising wedge (1520), and the Nasdaq’s large rising wedge (4300). If the Dow fails to penetrate 10,850 after consolidating here, or if the markets begin to drift lower, then today’s action may be no more than a bounce. The fact that the Nasdaq turned up right at the lower boundary of its rising wedge (4050) served to reinforce that pattern, so we continue to have a larger bearish backdrop. A break of 4050 could send the Nasdaq all the way back to 3042, where the wedge began. The ISDEX also rebounded at key support (790), preserving its recent breakout. The ISDEX turned back recently at 840, just below its 50% retracement level of 845. If Net stocks can get past 850 resistance, they could go to 880. So what happened to the smaller rising wedge that the S&P 500 broke the other day? The lines have continued to rise, and to negate it, the S&P would have to move quickly above 1520, the boundary of the larger wedge. That larger wedge is the more important pattern, obviously, and has a lower boundary of about 1470, which should provide some support. One positive: IBM appears to have negated its recent breakdown out of a symmetrical triangle/diamond pattern.
