Techs Drag Market Higher

Worries about GE’s debt and a weak manufacturing report didn’t deter tech investors, who almost pulled blue chips into positive territory by the end of the day.

The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ rose 4 to 164, and the Nasdaq gained 35 to 1868. The S&P 500 added 1 to 1153, and the Dow slipped 21 to 10,479. Volume rose to 1.33 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.59 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 16 to 15 on the NYSE, and 21 to 13 on the Nasdaq.

After the close, Micron missed revenue estimates. Applied Materials said a recovery is in process and declared a 2-for-1 stock split despite a forward PE of almost 200. Palm beat estimates, and 3Com missed revenue estimates.

During the day, Oracle gained 5% on company comments that IT spending should improve in the next 12-18 months.

Tibco fell 9% after missing revenue estimates.

Apple slipped 2.6% on iMac profitability concerns.

Tech Data surged 8% after beating estimates.

Cree rose 7% on a government biological weapons contract.

Traders flocked back into momentum stocks like Brocade , Emulex , Qlogic and Broadcom .

Some technical comments on the market: Note: To see the charts in the text email newsletter, click on the internetstockreport.com story link at the top of the newsletter.

The Nasdaq (first chart) could make it interesting tomorrow; if it can hold above 1865 or so tomorrow, it could break out of a down channel. If it can’t, the next target down appears to be 1793-1805, with support at 1850 and 1825-1830. Resistance is 1880-1910. The Dow (second chart) broke down out of a two-week trading range today but managed to recover by the close. If it can get above 10,510 tomorrow, it could head back to the top of the range at 10,700. Support is 10,425, 10,382 and 10,350. The S&P (third chart) bounced right at 1138-1142 support. Resistance is 1156-1157 and 1170-1180.

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