1-2-3-4
An inside day
for the Naz, leaving it in a Cooper 1-2-3-4 setup.
On the downside, that is.
A modest positive was the 13% dry-up
in Nasdaq activity.
A check of the leading glamours, the
ones that count from a sentiment standpoint, also revealed little profit-taking.
And so Network Appliance
(
NTAP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
came off 3% on a 36% decline in volume, putting in an inside day.
Interwoven
(
IWOV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) crawled higher
as turnover also dwindled 36% on an inside day.
Handspring
(
HAND |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was flattish on
a 54% drop in trade, an inside day.
Mercury
(
MERQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), another recent
breakout, also showed good tone.
BEA
(
BEA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), another leader, churned
out a minor gain.
i2
(
ITWO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also behaved well
despite a setback.
Ditto for Juniper
(
JNPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Among other of the names, Cacheflow
(
CFLO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), showing great
persistence and good money flow, continued its slither up the right side of its nine-month base.
Brocade
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) eked out another
fresh high
But Power
(
PWER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) broke down
loudly on mega-volume, slicing through its 50-day as though it was chopped
liver.
As well, the telecom equipments —
Nortel
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Tellabs
(
TLAB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Lucent
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), you name
it — continue to trace spectacular tops as growth concerns persist.
Thursday, Ericsson
(
ERICY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) came
down on over triple average volume.
If you find yourself growing weary of
the back-and-forth action of the growth sector over the past months, you should
recall that the market spends about 60%-70% of the time moving sideways.
Meanwhile, it is to be noted that
legitimate long-lasting bottoms normally are formed amid a climate of fear.
Whether it was October ’87, October
’90, April ’94, October ’97, or September ’98, a certain amount of fear, and in
some cases, panic, prevailed.
Currently, a few worrisome ingredients
are present, such as the three E’s.
Energy, earnings, and the euro.
I won’t speculate as to whether these
constitute enough worry, or even fear, to cobble together a durable bottom,
either now or over the next few months.
But since the market is a discounting
mechanism, having a certain amount of negatives to dwell on is not necessarily
the worst thing in the world.
For the market, that is.