Looking For Legs
The Nasdaq scored its third-straight winning day Thursday with a chip-led
surge of 4.5% that ended the session at its highs of the day. The move helped
the Nasdaq close back above its 50-day moving average for the first time since
early February and it also suggests that this rally might have some legs. From
its April 4 low, the Nasdaq has now bounced back more than 34%.
The blue chip averages were helped by financials, transports, and telecom as
the Dow rose 0.7% and the S&P 500 added 1.2%. Several analysts commented
that they see the Dow running into some resistance at these levels, which may
hinder any potential follow through action for the Dow.
Volume was again impressive, with 2.68 billion shares trading on the Nasdaq
and 1.46 billion shares changing hands on the NYSE.
“The Dow Industrials rallied into a level where there is a lot of
supply. Remember a few months back when we were talking about the 10,300 level,
and we broke below that level. That was the lower part of a broad resistance
area for the market, which stands from 10,500 to 10,700, and we traded right
into that because the move was so dramatic,” said Bernadette Murphy, Chief
Market Analyst, Kimelman & Baird.
“When you compare that with the Nasdaq market, the Nasdaq has supply
around 2200, but its not major. The Nasdaq doesn’t really run into more
meaningful supply area until 2500,” she added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq soared 102.49 to 2181.93, the
Dow gained 77.75 to 10,693.58, and the S&P 500 rose 15.53 to 1253.69.
Top sectors were Internets
(
$GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 7.7%, semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 6.9%, and computer technology
(
$XCI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 6.3%.
On the downside for the second day in a row were health care
(
$HCX..X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 1.4%, pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.0%, and oil services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 3.2%.
Top performers in the SOX were Linear Technologies
(
LLTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 14%, KLA
Tencor
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 12%, Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 10.7%, and Xilinx
(
XLNX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 8.6%.
Tops in the Nets were Inktomi
(
INKT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 29%, CheckPoint
(
CHKP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
13%, and eBay
(
EBAY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 10%.
One of the day’s big winners was Apple Computer
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which came out
with much better-than-expected earnings after the bell Wednesday. Apple earned
11 cents per share which handily topped estimates of a penny a share. Apple rose
2.93 to 25.72 on triple average volume.
Also strong was wireless giant Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which rose 7.55 or 13%
to 66.30 on heavier-than-average volume.
Tech and telecom helped the Dow, as winners included IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 7.6%,
AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 5.5%, Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.9%, and Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 3.8%.
Looking ahead, the next big economic news due out is the April consumer
confidence numbers due out on Tuesday.