Pre-Expiration Sag
Stocks are looking at a saggy open Friday ahead of options expiration, and
some pullback was expected given the Nasdaq’s 3-day more than 300 point rally.
The Nasdaq futures are down 14 points, and the Dow futures are down 74
points.
The S&Ps look to open down 5 points while the yield on the 10-year
Treasury is 5.24%.
Friday Movers
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) booked earnings of 44 cents per share, and that topped
analyst estimates by a penny. Microsoft closed Thursday up 2.59 to 68.02 but
traded higher after the earnings news. The stock is currently trading at 70.82
in pre-market activity.
Analyst upgrades are giving select techs a boost. Vitesse
(
VTSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
trading up to 37.25 following a Thursday close of 35.50, and PMC Sierra
(
PMCS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is trading up to 44.50 following its Friday close of 41.40.
Brocade
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) warned that its third quarter revenue and earnings would
fall short of analyst expectations, and that is negatively impacting the stock
Friday. Brocade closed Thursday at 31.34 and is currently trading down to 28.70
in pre-market action.
Sun Micro
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) had traded higher on an upgrade from Merrill Lynch but
has pulled back to 19.75 following its 20.71 Thursday close. Sun beat estimates
by a penny Thursday but warned of a third quarter slowdown.