Bravo Nasdaq
Better-than-expected earnings from optical player Ciena helped keep the
Nasdaq rally alive Thursday as the average tacked on another 2.5% to nearly
match Wednesday’s gain. The Dow and S&P 500 joined the upward lift with
gains of 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.
At one point the Nasdaq traded up more than 4% to 2593.09 but fell victim to
selling pressure in the final two hours of trading. What traders did enjoy
seeing was volume edging up another 10% as 2.07 billion shares traded on the
Nasdaq and 1.12 billion shares changed hands.
“It looks like the technology sector is attempting to resume leadership.
That would be good for the entire market for the short term at least. Once the
technology sector is leading, that provides some additional strength for the
listed stocks,” said Harry Laubscher, Market Analyst, Tucker Anthony.
“I would expect that over the next several months you’re still going to
see the Nasdaq out-perform the Dow. So we are encouraging people who are
traders, not investors, to look at some of the technology stocks. We still think
we are in a secular bear market and that it will likely resume sometime in the
summer,” he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq gained 61.48 to 2552.88, the Dow
gained 95.61 to 10,891.02, and the S&P 500 added 10.69 to 1326.61.
Top sectors were semiconductors
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up 3.3%, computer technology
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products
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Weakest sectors were health care
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Ciena’s
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Financial estimates by 3 cents, and despite a late-session fade, Ciena managed
to finish up 12 3/16 to 89 on nearly triple average volume.
Powering the SOX were Rambus
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up 7.4%, Novellus
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Nasdaq bellwether Cisco Systems
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of 1 7/16 or 4.9% to 30 13/16 on heavier-than-average volume.
Additional tech winners included Internet Security Systems
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13%, Digital Lightwave
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9.5%, Comverse
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Dow winners were Hewlett Packard
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up 5.0%, and Intel
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which fell 2.4%.
Looking ahead, the next big economic news due out is the January Producer Price Index report which is due out on Friday at 8:30 AM ET. Street estimates
look for a PPI increase of 0.2% and a core PPI reading of 0.1%.