First Time In Seven Months
After a government report showed that in
February the
economy added jobs for the first time in seven months, the markets took off.
Adding to the bullish bias this morning was positive guidance on earnings from Sun
Micro
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GE |
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Microsoft
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MSFT |
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Jones Industrial Average
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$INDU |
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as high as 10663, before pulling back into a trading range. The Dow remains in
positive territory with a positive bias and is on
target for completing its first four-week winning streak since May.
Sun Micro jumped this morning, pacing a gain in computer-related shares after Merrill Lynch & Co., the biggest brokerage, advised investors to
buy technology stocks. The PHLX Semiconductor Index
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$SOX.X |
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reacted well to the news and is helping push the Nasdaq
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$COMPQ |
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higher.
The S&P 500 Index
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$SPX |
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highs set earlier this year.
The PHLX Semiconductor Sector
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$SOX.X |
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is performing well today. Just about every issue in the index is trading
positive on the day. Those that are leading the index are: KLA-Tencor
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KLAC |
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Maxim Integrated Products
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MXIM |
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PowerRating), Applied Materials
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AMAT |
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Systems
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NVLS |
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XLNX |
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BRCM |
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SOX is trading at 635.92, up 24.91.
The PHLX Bank Sector
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$BKX.X |
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the stronger sectors for the past five days. Today the Bank index is higher
again. Some of the stocks helping push the BKX are: FleetBoston Financial
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FBF |
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MBNA Corp
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KRB |
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STI |
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NTRS |
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The PHLX Bank sector is trading at 883.41, up 3.21.
The
AMEX Japan Index
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$JPN.X |
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hitting its lows back in February. The Japanese yen’s rebound has helped
spark the Japanese stocks. Also, last week the Japanese government measures to
boost shares of Japanese stocks started a rally that pushed the country’s
benchmark Nikkei stock market index to a seven-month high.
Dole Foods
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DOL |
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from high. DOL is holding a
3-month relative strength rank of 83 from TradingMarkets.com.
Ball Corp.
(
BLL |
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flag pattern. BLL holds a
3-month relative strength rank of 82 and an uptrending ADX of 49 from
TradingMarkets.com.
Greater Bay Bancorp
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GBBK |
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breaking out above resistance and hitting a two-month high with increasing volume.
GBBK has a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 94 and an uptrending
ADX of 36.
Myriad Genetics
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MYGN |
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PowerRating) is staging a
countertrend rally off its low of five days ago. MYGN is carrying a
3-month relative strength rank of 11 from TradingMarkets.com.
Black & Decker
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BDK |
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its high. Initial support is around 46.46 and secondary support is at 45.40.
BDK has a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 86 and an uptrending
ADX of 51.