Tech, Net Bulls Return

Internet and technology shares posted strong gains in rising volume on Tuesday, but the Dow continued to slip on earnings concerns.

The ISDEX bolted 30 to 793, and the Nasdaq surged 139 to 3865. The S&P 500 gained 15 to 1459, but the Dow slipped 19 to 10,789. Volume rose to 1.02 billion shares on the NYSE and 1.69 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 14 to 13 on the NYSE, but advancers led 22 to 17 on the Nasdaq. Engage reports earnings tomorrow, and CMGI and Liberate report on Thursday. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar and reported earnings. For after hours quotes and news, visit our new after hours trading site.

Barnesandnoble.com soared 1 11/32 to 5 29/32 after Yahoo made the company a featured merchant, effectively replacing Amazon.com , which fell 2 5/16 to 40 1/2 on that news and a lukewarm analyst meeting. Yahoo gained 2 1/16 to 107 1/8.

Ariba gained 7 9/16 to 151 1/2 after a positive analyst meeting.

Cobalt soared 15 7/8 to 57 after announcing it will be acquired by Sun Microsystems at a ratio of 0.5 SUNW shares for each share of COBT, or about $2 billion. VA Linux surged 8 1/8 to 52 1/4 on the news.

Mediaplex , off 1 3/4 to 6 1/2, warned that third-quarter revenues will be lower than expected. Engage , which reports tomorrow after the bell, slipped 3/8 to 8 5/8, but DoubleClick added 1/8 to 40 1/16.

Portal Software gained 2 7/8 to 42 3/4 on an alliance with Sun Microsystems, Inktomi and Redback Networks to create an integrated broadband delivery framework.

Stamps.com lost 7/16 to 5 7/8 despite an announcement that the company’s Internet postage service will be integrated into Microsoft’s Works software. Pitney Bowes filed a patent infringement suit against the company yesterday.

Juniper Networks gained 19 to 211 on the announcement of new routers, and a Salomon Smith Barney Buy rating and comments that the company’s clients are financially strong.

Resonate rose 1 1/16 to 30 15/16 on a content delivery alliance with Akamai , up 2 1/16 to 61 15/16.

divine interVentures fell 11/16 to 5 13/16 after two top company officials resigned to pursue other interests.

Allaire finally recovered, slipping 5/16 to 10 1/8 after trading as low as 8 7/8. The company warned yesterday of a third-quarter 5-20 cent loss instead of a 7-cent profit. The company, which has been sliding from 38 at the start of the month, told Internet Stock Report last week that there was no reason to account for the stock’s decline. Four analysts made positive comments about the company during the slide. The last one, Dain Rauscher Wessels, reiterated Strong Buy on Friday, and cut that rating to Neutral today, saying that Allaire appears to have both a positioning and an execution problem.

Some technical comments on the market: We thought the Nasdaq would try to rally off its old October 1998 uptrend line (3700) today, and it did. The index is also back above its old May uptrend line at about 3820. The Nasdaq now faces resistance about every 50 points; next up is 3900. Some Fibonacci levels from the 4259-3702 decline to think about: 3913 (38%), 3980 (50%) and 4047 (62%). Below 3700,

the Nasdaq could find a bottom in the 3521-3600 range; lower than 3500, and the May lows (3042) will likely be retested. The ISDEX found support in the 750 range, a long way from its May trendline, which is at 720. To the upside is 790-800 resistance. Above that, the ISDEX’s recent rally topped out at 850, the 50% retracement level.

The Dow is struggling after falling back into the bearish diamond pattern it broke out of last month. That boundary, 10,850, is now first resistance on the Dow. To the downside, we won’t panic until the Dow crosses 10,500, the October 1998 trendline. The S&P 500 faces resistance at 1460, and closed a fraction under that today. Next strong resistance is 1480-1490. First strong support below 1460 is 1435-1440, and then 1425. Critical support is around 1405.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

News Around the Web