Greetings, James.
Today seemed to be the first day in a while that CRPB has shown trading strength. Most of the trades executed at the ask. Volume is improving and the market makers "painted the tape" at the close with a small 500-share buy at $12-7/8.
This is also the first sign in numerous trading days that the market makers are finally bullish. I would wager that CRPB will be back over $13 at some point tomorrow (assuming Asia doesn't crash on us overnight, of course!).
CRPB's employee stock purchases will take place within the next week. With a higher degree of ownership, especially at these price levels, employees will have more significant vesting in the well-being of the company.
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This is from CBS Marketwatch (pertaining to semiconductors):
cbs.marketwatch.com
"Technology stocks provided leadership on the way down, and now they're leading the Dow back up," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter Ltd. Bleier expects the greatest leadership from blue-chip technology stocks and those groups that have taken the most lumps during the market's correction, like semiconductors.
"We're beginning a summer rally," Bleier said. "I expect technology stocks to lead the Dow to 9200 by the end of the summer, and then trade sideways for a few months."
What we're seeing is a snap-back reaction to some recent positive developments in the PC industry," said Russell Crabs, head of equity research for SoundView Financial Group.
According to Crabs, chip making giant Intel (INTC) is currently experiencing shortages for certain components amid increased orders from computer manufacturers. Intel shares have been crushed recently under anxiety about overcapacity and pricing pressure.
Crabs said PC vendors like Compaq (CPQ), Hewlett-Packard (HWP) and IBM (IBM) are resuming normal order patterns as their inventories return to manageable levels.
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