Blue chips followed through on Thursday’s strong gains on Friday, but tech stocks took a breather.
The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ gave back 1 to 220, and the Nasdaq added 9 to 2084. The S&P 500 rose 7 to 1215, and the Dow climbed 60 to 10,539. Volume declined to 1.1 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.55 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17 to 12 on the NYSE, and 19 to 16 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.
Juniper Networks gave back .82 to 27.65, down from an intraday high of 29.99, after beating estimates by a penny with 9-cent earnings and hitting the low end of revenue estimates. Cisco
rose .96 to 18.82 on speculation that the company may be winning back market share from Juniper.
Advanced Micro Devices lost 1.62 to 21.08 after topping estimates by a penny with 5-cent earnings but lowering forward estimates. Rambus
declined .93 to 9.95 on in-line results and an earnings warning.
RSA Security plunged 4.25 to 25.70 after missing estimates and lowering forward guidance. Check Point
dropped 2.69 to 42.35.
Amazon.com rose .60 to 17.09 on hope that a press conference on Monday could mean some good news for the company.
Ulticom lost 1.64 to 20.80 on rumors of a rift with customer Sonus
.
Siebel rose 1.36 to 46.10 on positive comments from Morgan Stanley.
Earthlink surged 1.19 to 15.79 on a CIBC WorldMarkets Strong Buy rating.
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Not the greatest follow through today; it probably would have been better to see straight profit-taking. Instead, the Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 formed dojis – indecision candlesticks that can mark a reversal – by trading lower, higher and ending close to unchanged. The indexes reached overbought levels today, not high enough to put the market in danger of imminent reversal, but not the best thing in the world heading into an important turn window. We’ll see what happens next week; the market can stay overbought for some time at the start of a good rally. The Dow (first chart) continued to build on yesterday’s gains and could be head for 10,600 resistance next. 10,450 should now be support, and 10,269 is now critical support. The S&P 100 (second chart) cleared the import 623 resistance level, but the Nasdaq 100 (third chart) couldn’t clear the critical level of 1770, the neckline of the index’s head and shoulders top. The S&P 500 (fourth chart) took out 1207 resistance nicely and closed above its 20 day moving average at 1214. 1203-1207 is first support, and 1187 is now critical support. The Nasdaq (fifth chart) took out 2075 resistance, but stalled just above 2100. The 2130-2150 could be a tough hurdle, and 2031 is critical support. One negative is that all the indexes stalled out today roughly at their 62% retracement levels of their July declines. We need to get above these levels to make it a trend.
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