When’s The Washout?
The Nasdaq bounced back from a 3.7% early-morning plunge and battled its way
back to close down just 0.2%. Internets and networkers paced the comeback from
lows the Nasdaq had not seen since May 26.
The Dow and S&P 500 also managed to keep losses contained, as each
finished down 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively. Financials remained under pressure
because of worries of possible high-yield bond losses at major brokerages.
Volume slid 38% on the NYSE and 24% on the Nasdaq in holiday-lightened
action. Nasdaq volume was 1.42 billion shares, and NYSE volume was 718 million
shares.
“This is not the time to panic, raise cash, or short
the market. Two weeks ago we suggested that
week would be a watershed week. We were early. We are still bullish and continue
to buy,” said Paul Rabbitt, President,
RabbittAnalytics.com.
“Bullish sentiment has plunged (a good buy signal) to its lowest level
since the May correction bottom, and both the public/specialist short sales and the
put/call volume ratios have moved to reflect rising fear,” he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq slipped 5.51 to 3355.50, the Dow
eased 28.11 to 10,568.43, and the S&P 500 fell 6.98 to 1402.01.
Top sectors were Internets
(
$GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.8%, gold and silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 2.5%, and integrated oils
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.2%.
Weak sectors were semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.7%, airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 2.0%, and broker/dealers
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.2%.
B2B Internets showed renewed strength with solid gains from Broadvision
(
BVSN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 20%, VerticalNet
(
VERT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 18%, FreeMarkets
(
FMKT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 8%, Ariba
(
ARBA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
8%, and Commerce One
(
CMRC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 6%.
In the Internets, Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped 4 1/2 to 85 3/4 after trading
intraday down to a new 52-week low of 75 1/2. All eyes will be on Yahoo!
Tuesday, as the portal giant is set to announce earnings.Â
Additional tech winners of the day were Software.com
(
SWCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 9.7%,
Brocade
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 5.7%, and Juniper Networks
(
JNPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 5.1%.
In the Dow, Hewlett Packard
(
HWP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) led the way with a 4.3% gain while weakness
continued in Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which fell 1 3/8 to 54 3/16, its lowest level
since November 1998.
Looking ahead, economic news set for a Friday release includes the Producer Price Index and retail
sales figure for September.