Technology and Internet stocks ended April on a strong note, but blue chips finally fell victim to profit-taking after a five-week run-up.
The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ surged 9 to 256, and the Nasdaq climbed 40 to 2116. The S&P 500 slipped 3 to 1249, and the Dow fell 75 to 10,734. Volume rose to 1.22 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.99 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17 to 13 on the NYSE, and 24 to 14 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.
After the close, Netegrityrose 2 to 42 after beating estimates by 2 cents a share with 10-cent earnings, but came back down after the company predicted flat earnings on the conference call. Expediarose 2 to 28 after matching estimates of 9 cents a share, and guided forward estimates higher.
Also after the bell, Globespan Semibeat estimates by 2 cents with 12-cent earnings. InterTrustmissed by 4 cents with a 20-cent loss.
During the day, Oraclelost .95 to 16.20 on concern that the company could miss its quarter, which closes in May. Akamairose 1.50 to 9.41 on a deal with Oracle.
BroadVisiongained .84 to 6.35 on a licensing deal with Wal-Mart.
Radwaresurged 3.70 to 18.20 after beating estimates by 2 cents with 12-cent earnings.
Comverse Technologylost 1.56 to 68.55 despite announcing that it will meet or beat estimates. The company also announced 6% layoffs.
Telecom equipment stocks had a rare good day on analyst comments that equipment spending may be better than expected this year. Ciscorose 1.42 to 17.02, Cienagained 5.31 to 55.60, Juniperadded 4.31 to 59.33, and Tellabsrose 2.93 to 35.64.
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The bulls aren’t quite back in charge of this market yet. The Dow briefly eclipsed its recent 10,859 peak, only to reverse back below that level. Also, the index turned back about 100 points from the important 11,000 level, and appears to have maintained its downtrend with today’s action (first chart). The Dow also once again was repelled by its broken uptrend (second chart), but it is a credit to the index that it has yet to tank a week after breaking that line. We’ll set important support at 10,600, and critical resistance at 11,000. As we’ve said before, we do not want to see this rally end below key resistance levels; hopefully this is nothing more than a brief pullback. Let’s see if the bulls can regroup tomorrow. The Nasdaq (third chart) and the S&P 500 (fourth chart) are both below their January bottoms and main September downtrend lines, a bearish point for any rally to end. A break of 2252 on the Nasdaq and 1300 on the S&P 500 would be bullish, while a move below 1950 and 1190 would likely signal the end of the rally.
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