P J -- Poor msft! ;-]--- Enjoyed your perspective. They have been a great stock to own and will soon become the best buy going as the continue to slide. When it turns it will run hard, no matter how many of them there are, Certainly glad to be out right now but chomping at the bit awaiting to get back in.
NOVL has some great products to compete with msft. msft's competeing products are sub-par in comparison but novl still cannot compete... thats not the fault of msft..
Then things like this remind us just how things may go next week,,, See $6? My guess is 7 will not hold as I said days ago.
TOKYO, May 28 (Reuters) - Tokyo investors are bracing for
another volatile week for high-tech stocks, which are expected
to continue nervously tracking their U.S. counterparts.
"Some investors are now scared the market's scenario may
shift from a correction in information technology stocks toward
a hard-landing in the U.S. economy," said Masatoshi Sato,
equities manager at Kankaku Securities in Tokyo.
Traders forecast the benchmark Nikkei average <.N225> will
trade between 15,800 to 16,500 this week, shifting restlessly
in line with the U.S. Nasdaq <.IXIC> index.
The Nikkei ended last week at 16,008.14, down 1.48 percent
on Friday and five percent lower for the week. It has managed
to post a gain in only three of the past 15 trading days.
"It's becoming harder to guess when the selling will really
stop, with everyone just waiting for clear signs of a Nasdaq
recovery," said Toshihiko Matsuno, deputy manager of the
investment advisory section at Sakura Friend Securities in
Tokyo.
The Nasdaq fell 0.24 of a point to close at 3,205.11 on
Friday, down 185 points on the week. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average <.DJI> eased 24.86 points to 10,299.24 in sluggish
trade ahead the long Memorial Day weekend.
More losses on the Nasdaq composite index <.IXIC> would
raise fears of further selling, in particular by U.S. investors
who need to raise cash to cover losses at home, traders said.
Such concerns have been weighing most on shares in
companies like electronics giant Sony Corp <6758.T> and
Internet investor Softbank Corp <9984.T>, former favourites of
foreign investors.
Sony fell more than 10 percent last week to 9,680 yen.
Softbank, which has suffered sharp losses recently, rose
strongly last week. It closed up by its daily limit or 12.42
percent on Friday at 18,100 yen, on news it planned to
eventually take several group holding companies public and on
expectations ahead of its earnings results announced later in
the day.
Softbank announced after the market closed on Friday its
group net profit plummeted 77 percent in the past year, but
stayed in the black thanks to one-off gains from the sale of
some of the company's vast shareholdings.
FOCUS ON VALUE
Strategists and dealers said the best bet was to avoid
technology stocks for a while and focus on value stocks from
sectors such as retailing, utilities and heavy industries.
Friday afternoon was the peak of the earnings announcement
season, which traders said generally showed slow but sure signs
of recovery.
But the overall impact on the market was limited because of
the prevailing uncertainty.
"Recent economic data showed that the economy is on the
right path toward recovery. But when market sentiment is weak,
people tend to focus on bearish factors such as possible
instability ahead of the general election," said Takashi
Miyazaki, Partners Asset Management's senior strategist. |
