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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LemonHead who wrote (32938)	6/20/2001 8:49:25 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 70070

Volatile Techs Surge for Second Winning Session dailynews.yahoo.com By Steven Dale Greenlee, www.NewsFactor.com Uncertainty hung over tech stocks Wednesday, with some buyers buoying the Nasdaq on a feeling that the market was oversold during the seven-session losing streak that ended Monday. A report that the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in over a year also helped overcome investor timidity. The Comp began the session almost 1 percent in the red, only to regain that ground and climb 2 percent. That advance bled away during the afternoon hours, with techs dipping back into negative territory around 2 p.m. EDT. Tech stocks got a second wind late in the day, with the Nasdaq closing up a healthy 38.50 points, or 1.93 percent, at 2,031.16. The Nasdaq 100 was a playground for buyers Wednesday, advancing 45.66 points or 2.72 percent to finish at 1,721.56. Volume was livelier than in the past several days, with 2.06 billion shares trading hands. Advancers pushed past decliners by a tally of 19 to 18. Greenspan Speaks on Banks The economic slowdown has begun to affect the nation's banks but financial institutions are weathering the pressure, testified Federal Reserve (news - web sites) chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites) before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday. "Some of the credits that were made in periods of earlier optimism -- especially syndicated loans -- are now under pressure and scrutiny," the chairman reported in his traditionally dry manner. The Fed chief assured committee members that the banking system is still strong and healthy. Banks have begun using risk management techniques that will help mitigate losses in tough times, Greenspan said, accepting credit for nudging banks into hedging. "This is a sea change -- or at least the beginning of one," he said. Greenspan did not make any comment or reference to what the Federal Open Market Committee (news - web sites) might do next week. The FOMC begins a two-day meeting Tuesday, with a decision expected Wednesday on whether the year's sixth interest rate cut will be ordered. Deficit Deepens, Economy Gains The Conference Board (news - web sites), a private research firm, found that the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace since December 1999, rising 0.5 percent last month. The increase comes on the heels of a 0.1 percent advance in April. Economists had only expected a rise of 0.2 percent. The economy is ready for some recovery, Conference Board chief economist Ken Goldstein said in a statement. The government reported a deficit of US$27.9 billion in May -- nearly 10 times as high as May 2000. The spike is an anomaly, however. Calendar differences (tax day was April 16th rather than the 15th, for instance, with the one-day difference affecting $14 billion in receipts) and one-time payments to the Treasury from the Federal Reserve accounted for the bulk of the rise. Windows Rival Posts Profit Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT - news), easily squashable in Microsoft's cutthroat past, is now the leading distributor of Linux (news - web sites), a serious alternative to Windows. The company Tuesday reported it had earnings of $600,000 for the quarter, the first time the company has been in the black. The positive report was expected, but a cloudy future earned the company a downgrade from W.R. Hambrecht Wednesday. Red Hat shares valiantly dragged themselves out of the red, gaining 7 percent. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) had a mid-afternoon slip but otherwise put in a strong performance, adding $2.09. Oracle Extends Streak The world's No. 2 software producer was showered with positive activity Wednesday after reporting some of the best quarterly results heard in a while on Monday. Oracle's (Nasdaq: ORCL - news) shares added 4.5 percent to Tuesday's 13 percent advance. Chips, meanwhile, were a mixed bag. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news) faired well, climbing 3 percent and closing up 82 cents. The other 15 companies tracked by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell, with the index losing 0.49 percent. Just checked a few minutes ago. We now have 3 less oversold semiconductor stocks than after the close yesterday. Still seeing 51 of 199 as a high ratio. RtS