Another inauspicious session
Once again,
the technology sector rose to the occasion Tuesday, rescuing the U.S.
stock market from an otherwise inauspicious session of trading.
The techs overcame some choppy morning
dealings to stage a steady, if unspectacular, afternoon ascent. Nasdaq volume
was again extremely heavy, clocking in at its sixth-briskest pace
ever.
With little of import on the economic
table, bonds improved, with the March contract up 15/32, its third win in a row,
a feat not seen in over five weeks. Wednesday’s beige book release and Friday’s
unveiling of the November producer price index are the next hurdle for
Treasurys.
In the benchmark
tech segment, Cisco was the star, up for the fifth day in a row on
the its heaviest turnover in nearly four weeks…IBM also rose for the
fifth consecutive day as it continues its follow-through from a two-week
congestion area…Motorola acted well on the heels of Monday’s breakout
from a two-week trading range–it traded little changed on a dry-up in
volume…Lucent inched higher following Monday’s re-entry into its recent
two-week base.
Among the Internet glamours, Red Hat charged higher for the
second day as it broke out to new-high ground after a four-day pullback–volume
was about double its average for the second day.