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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Return to Sender who wrote (15482)	5/31/2004 12:12:39 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95632

Up from the sick bed? <<Up from the sick bed Stocks finally rebound from oversold levels, due in part to cheaper oil. Can they keep going? May 30, 2004: 7:30 AM EDT By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money senior writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - After suffering flu-like symptoms for a long stretch, U.S. stock markets are suddenly looking a lot healthier. How they fare in the coming week could say a lot about whether this is a short-term bounce or a longer-lasting rally. Aside from a brief move higher in late March/early April, stocks have been falling since late January, driven in part by worries about inflation and an impending Federal Reserve interest-rate hike, with some geopolitical worries and rising oil prices thrown in for good measure. Technical market indicators got so gloomy, in fact, that many analysts started to believe the market was oversold and due for a bounce. Last week, it seemed, the bounce arrived. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 gained 2.5 percent and the Nasdaq gained 3.9 percent. [snip] Technical analysts were encouraged by the activity in the market last week. Sometimes a bounce from an oversold level is short-lived and soon followed by another decline. Not in this case. Many more stocks moved higher during the good times last week than fell; such "breadth" is another good sign. Despite the bounce, the ratio of bearish "put" options to bullish "call" options is still high -- a contrary indicator that makes technical analysts happy. Still, not all analysts are popping champagne corks. They'll need to see such good signs continuing this week, and probably beyond, before they'll be convinced. "The markets were in a position to do a trading bounce, and that's what they've done," said Elaine Yager, senior vice president for technical analysis at the Maxim Group. "I would have to say we're still in the confines of trading ranges. If the market strengthens more and trading positions turn into holding positions, we'll see how it plays out." [snip] Key events in the week ahead: * Tuesday morning, the Institute for Supply Management releases its closely watched index of manufacturing activity in May. Economists, on average, expect the index to dip to 61 from 62.4 in April, according to Briefing.com. * Also on Tuesday, outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas issues its tally of job-cut announcements for May. The report's not always a market mover. * Thursday morning, the Labor Department reports the number of new claims for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 29. There's no consensus estimate yet, but economists likely hope the number of claims will fall from the previous week's unexpectedly high 344,000. * Later Thursday, the ISM will release its index of non-manufacturing activity in May. Economists expect the index to dip to 66 from 68.4 in April. * Also Thursday, the Census Bureau will report on factory orders in April. Economists, on average, expect orders to rise just 0.4 percent, following a 3.4-percent jump in March. * Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its figures for May unemployment and payroll growth. Economists expect the unemployment rate to hold steady at 5.6 percent and think 215,000 new jobs were added in the month, compared with 288,000 in April.>>