posted 04-27-2001 05:53 PM         

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Light volume and choppy trading characterized today's session; still, the major indices managed to remain in positive territory throughout and finish significantly higher on the day. The market opened to the plus side, following news that the US GDP grew 2% in the first quarter - a figure that doubled analysts' estimates. Investors showed little conviction in either direction throughout most of the session, until the final hour, when a decent rally ensued. On the day, the Nasdaq gained 41 points (2.0%), the Dow added 118 (1.1%), and the S&P 500 rose 18 (1.5%). Semis and hardware buoyed tech, while retail, biotech, and financial issues led the broader market.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10810.05 +117.70 +1.10%
Nasdaq Composite: 2075.70 +40.82 +2.01%
S&P 500: 1253.05 +18.53 +1.50%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.790% +0.080

posted 04-26-2001 06:25 PM         

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Yesterday we saw a late-day rally and today we saw a late-day sell-off. The sell-off was not especially brutal, but it did push the Nasdaq into the red in the final hours of trading after the tech composite had spent most of the day on the plus side. The tech index finished the day about 25 points in the hole. The Dow fared somewhat better since it had a more comfortable cushion to rest upon going into the sell-off. The blue chip indicator, up about 100 points in the early afternoon, finished the day only up by about 65. Financials, retail, and select cyclicals led the way today for the industrial average, while chip stocks in particular were what foiled the Nasdaq.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10692.35 +67.15 +0.63%
Nasdaq Composite: 2034.88 -24.92 -1.21%
S&P 500: 1234.52 +5.77 +0.47%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.777% +0.067

posted 04-23-2001 05:54 PM         

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After a brief hibernation last week, the bears returned to Wall Street today and took on the tech sector with a vengeance. The Nasdaq took a triple-digit hit, dropping almost 5 percent, as sellers unloaded tech issues of every stripe. The tech sell-off also weakened the Dow, but the blue chip indicator suffered only modest losses as strength in oil, energy, and utility stocks propped up the index. Volume was fairly light for most of the day, and the trading session in general was quite smooth with no noticeable choppy action. So while it may have been a down day on the Street, most investors chose to stand on the sidelines and observe.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10532.23 -47.62 -0.45%
Nasdaq Composite: 2059.32 -104.09 -4.81%
S&P 500: 1224.36 -18.62 -1.50%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.726% -0.051

posted 04-20-2001 05:54 PM         

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After a bit of turbulence at the start of the session, the markets drifted sideways through negative territory for most of the day. The major indices did come off of intraday lows, but never made a serious run to push into the black. Earnings news will continue to be the story next week. Investors will essentially be asked to decide if exceeding lowered estimates is actually news worth getting excited about. In any case, it's difficult to be disappointed that this week ended with a bit of a fizzling out after the 50bp rate cut and ensuing rally leading up to today. The Nasdaq finished the session just under 19 points in the red while the Dow was down almost 114 points. The declines were in the range of 1% for both indices.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10579.85 -113.86 -1.06%
Nasdaq Composite: 2163.37 -18.77 -0.86%
S&P 500: 1242.98 -10.72 -0.86%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.777% +0.017

posted 04-19-2001 05:44 PM         

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(Please disregard the post immediately below this one)

The major stock indicators rose once again today, as the markets continued to feed off the positive investor sentiment created yesterday when the Fed slashed interest rates by 50 basis. The markets had a caution open, with both the Dow and the Nasdaq straddling the break even point for the first thirty minutes of trading. After the initial hesitation, though, tech stocks surged about 50 points above par and remained there for most of the day. The Dow had a somewhat clumsier climb, spending much of the morning in the red, but by the middle of the afternoon it too decided to join the rally, tacking on gains for a fifth consecutive trading session. The only notable downers today were drug and retail issues. Overall, though, it was a good one: the Nasdaq rose by 102 points, the Dow by 77.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10693.58 +77.75 +0.73%
Nasdaq Composite: 2181.99 +102.55 +4.93%
S&P 500: 1253.68 +15.52 +1.25%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.760% +0.116

posted 04-19-2001 05:43 PM         

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It was a somewhat loopy day on Wall Street today. The markets opened in solid positive territory, following Amazon.com's announcement that earnings for the last quarter will exceed expectations by 8 cents. That announcement fueled a major rally in Internet issues, which propelled the Nasdaq upwards over 30 points (about 2%) by noon. The Dow decided to tag along for the ride, and so for much of the day the two indicators were enjoying something of a rally. Then around 2pm weakness in the chip sector curtailed the rally and dragged both indices back to the breakeven point, as investors started worrying anew about the slew of corporate earnings reports due out later this week. Remarkably, however, such concerns were shelved in the last hour of trading, and the markets rose once again. The Dow manged to squeeze out a 54.06 point gain, the Nasdaq ended the day up 25.36.

Dow Jones Industrials: 9845.15 +54.06 +0.55%
Nasdaq Composite: 1745.71 +25.35 +1.47%
S&P 500: 1137.59 +9.16 +0.81%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.481% +0.025

posted 04-18-2001 06:15 PM         

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Today's session started out well enough - both the Dow and the Nasdaq jumped out of the gate, and only added to their gains through the first hour of trading. But then the Fed came in with a surprise interest rate cut of .5%, and blew the roof off the market. The major indices immediately skyrocketed following the news (at about 11am), and continued to climb throughout most of the session. At one point, the Nasdaq was up over 10%. But the indices coasted into the close, losing some ground over the last hour. The Nasdaq gained 156 points (8.1%) on the day, the Dow climbed 399 (3.9%), and the S&P 500 rose 46 (3.9%). The rally was broad-based in nature, with big-cap tech providing strong leadership; defensive stocks suffered from rotation into tech.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10615.83 +399.10 +3.91%
Nasdaq Composite: 2079.44 +156.22 +8.12%
S&P 500: 1238.16 +46.35 +3.89%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.644% +0.004

posted 04-17-2001 06:06 PM         

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It was a heartening day on Wall Street. After the close yesterday, tech bellwether Cisco announced that it would miss earnings and revenue estimates by a significant margin. Needless to say, things looked pretty bleak and the talking heads predicted doom and gloom. The futures markets seemed to back those predictions up, and the markets gapped down at the open. But, the markets were resilient and staged an encouraging recovery. The Nasdaq went straight up and traded in positive territory by late morning. The Nasdaq gave up some of its ground, and traded near breakeven for most of the day before closing up 14 points on the session. Software issues were particularly strong. The Dow followed a similar pattern, and finished the day near session highs, up 58 points.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10216.73 +58.17 +0.57%
Nasdaq Composite: 1923.22 +13.65 +0.71%
S&P 500: 1191.81 +12.13 +1.03%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.640% -0.056

posted 04-16-2001 08:21 PM         

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Downgrades in the chip sector sparked broader selling of technology shares this afternoon and caused the Nasdaq to close down over 2.5%. After the bell, Cisco warned that 3Q revenue would be down 30% setting up a rough day for tech tomorrow. Earnings reports will have a significant impact on the markets for the next couple of weeks beginning with Intel's report after the bell tomorrow. The chip-maker is expected to report a profit less than half the number for the same period last year. The Dow managed to close in the black after spending the bulk of the day below break-even. For the session, the Nasdaq was off over 51 points while the Dow battled to a gain of almost 32 points.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10158.56 +31.62 +0.31%
Nasdaq Composite: 1909.57 -51.86 -2.64%
S&P 500: 1179.68 -3.82 -0.32%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.696% +0.096

posted 04-12-2001 05:58 PM         

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It was a relatively steady day on Wall Street today. The markets opened on the downside after a slew of early morning economic reports gave investors the recession willies. Bad news regarding rising jobless claims and, more importantly, falling retail sales were enough to cause both the Nasdaq and the Dow to each trade about one percent in the red for the entire morning. Then around noon investors decided to shrug off the bad news in the hopes of sustaining the recent multi-day Nasdaq rally. And it worked. The Nasdaq, led by chip and Internet issues, pulled itself together in order to post respectable gains starting around noontime, while the Dow limped a little behind, hampered mostly by the retail sector. Thus it continued for the entire afternoon, until about thirty minutes before the bell the Dow tried to steal the show by shooting up to post a 100 point gain. It was a valiant effort, but the real winner today was undoubtedly the Nasdaq, with its fourth straight advance in as many sessions, a feat not accomplished by the tech composite since last August.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10126.94 +113.47 +1.13%
Nasdaq Composite: 1961.43 +62.48 +3.29%
S&P 500: 1183.50 +17.61 +1.51%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.600% -0.002

posted 04-11-2001 06:29 PM         

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It was an excellent day for the Nasdaq: the tech-heavy index managed to build on yesterday's surprise rally by posting a 47 (2.5%) gain on the session. Tech was buoyed primarily by chip issues, which saw significant buying interest following bullish analyst comments on the sector (actually, the comments weren't so much bullish as they were 'can't-get-any-worse'). Unfortunately, defensive issues suffered as a result of tech's popularity, driving the Dow down 90 points (0.9%) by the close. In the broader market, retail, drugs, and cyclical issues saw the heaviest sell pressure while financials managed to buck the downward trend.

Dow Jones Industrials: 10013.47 -89.27 -0.88%
Nasdaq Composite: 1898.95 +46.92 +2.53%
S&P 500: 1165.89 -2.49 +0.21%
30-year Treasury Bond: 5.602% -0.020

All times are EST (US)