Bonds ease
Tech stocks
lumbered back into the plus column Wednesday following the prior
day’s gaping setbacks, but the broader market showed plenty of red as caution
set in ahead of Friday’s jobs report.
Bonds eased following the release of a
friendly report from the nation’s purchasing managers, but remain under the gun
due to a supply glut. Comments from Fed Gov. Meyer didn’t help.
Cybershares traded mixed with a positive
bias. Yahoo! accounted for most of the group’s excitement on news of its
upcoming addition to the S&P 500.
Among tech bellwethers, most names saw a
dry-up in volume. Dell, however, saw activity swell to above-average
levels for the fourth day in the last five as it tries to make a stand in the
40-45 zone — it’s outperformed over the past two weeks…MCI WorldCom
was another exception, falling on the heaviest trade in about eight weeks on
concerns about future growth — technically, the action set the stock back at
least a few weeks in its progress at building the right side of its
cup…Microsoft, an outperformer for the last two weeks, showed
constructive tone for the second day…Motorola acted well as it
continues to build a bullish flat base amid scant profit-taking by
institutions…Oracle edged up in light trade. It had come under
distribution in three of the prior five sessions — not a surprise given its 86%
runup over a four-week period.
Away from technology, retailers were the
only other broad sector to show much green.
In sum, caution ahead of Friday’s jobs
data offered little in the way of clues as to the market’s next move. A plus remains the market’s character: Few leaders are showing any serious signs of distribution.