Techs, Nets Power Higher

Stocks continued to soar on hopes that the Federal Reserve rate cuts will revive the economy. The Nasdaq led the way with a triple-digit gain on surging volume.

The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ soared 22 to 294, and the Nasdaq bolted 106 to 2305, the Nasdaq’s highest close since February and the point where the Federal Reserve first cut interest rates on Jan. 3. The S&P 500 gained 20 to 1312, and the Dow added 36 to 11,337. Volume surged to 1.4 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.3 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 20 to 10 on the NYSE and 25 to 13 on the Nasdaq, and up volume trounced down volume. 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.

Telecom equipment stocks led the way, with higher highs for Cisco , up 2.65 to 22.85, and Tellabs , up 3.42 to 41.97. Recent IPO Tellium hit a new high, surging 3.85 to 25.65.

Check Point rose 6.71 to 62.90 to clear 60 resistance. Netegrity broke 40 resistance, soaring 5.11 to 45.06.

Sun Microsystems bolted 2.98 to 22.95 on optimism that its May 29 update will be a positive one, but some analysts said Sun’s business still appears to be weak. EMC , up .35 to 40.70, lagged after analysts said its quarter is also looking poor.

Semiconductor stocks shrugged off downgrades to Intel and Advanced Micro to soar higher.

VeriSign soared 6.56 to 67.30 on news that it will continue to operate the .com registry through 2007.

PurchasePro rose .42 to 3 on news of a new CEO, board member Todd Bradley. CEO and founder Charles Johnson resigned.

E*Trade announced it is acquiring Web Street .

MP3 , up 1.89 to 4.90, will be acquired by Vivendi .

Some technical comments on the market: Note: We include charts in the technical market commentary. If you can’t get the charts via the e-mail newsletter version, try this link: http://www.afterhourstrading.com/column.html

Couldn’t have picked a better day to come back. The S&P 500 (first chart) and the Nasdaq (second chart) broke their September downtrend lines on high volume today. They also cleared their January bottoms and the point where the Federal Reserve first cut interest rates on Jan. 3. The S&P looks particularly good, a potential inverse head and shoulders bottom with upside potential to 1420-1450. The 1254-1300 and 2252-2300 levels on the Nasdaq and S&P should now be support. The Dow (third chart) is closing in on a critical level, the 11,400 point that has stopped earlier rallies. Above 11,400, the Dow should be headed for new highs, and the 11,000-11,035 level should now be support. The only negatives are that we are nearing the start of earnings warning season, and Wednesday is a big turn date, plus or minus a day. The market could be due for a pullback in the next couple of days.

Special report: For a free introduction to technical chart patterns and an overview of last year’s action in the stock market, visit http://www.internetstockreport.com/guest/article/0,1785,2571_500051,00.html.

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