Amazon gave back strong gains after hours Tuesday after matching estimates but guiding revenues lower. The company stuck to its pledge of fourth-quarter pro forma profitability.
Stocks came under pressure toward the close on news that anthrax had been found at a remote White House mail facility, but officials said environmental tests at the White House were negative for the bacteria.
The ISDEX http://www.wsrn.com/apps/ISDEX/ rose 1 to 146, and the Nasdaq slipped 3 to 1704. The S&P 500 lost 5 to 1084, and the Dow fell 36 to 9340. Volume rose to 1.31 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.83 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a few issues on the NYSE, and by 19 to 16 on the Nasdaq. For earnings reports, visit our earnings calendar at http://www.wsrn.com/apps/earnings/internet.xpl and reported earnings at http://www.wsrn.com/apps/earnings/ireported.xpl. For after hours quotes and news, visit our after hours trading site at http://www.afterhourstrading.com.
Also after the close, QLogic and Vignette
matched estimates; Compaq
missed by a penny; and Fairchild
, Ticketmaster
, CNET
, InfoSpace
, Citrix
, LSI
and Entrust
beat estimates.
During the day, Lucent fell .26 to 6.03 after missing estimates.
Applied Materials fell .90 to 33.87 on negative comments from Bank of America.
EarthLink fell 2.51 to 14.85 on a Goldman Sachs downgrade based on valuation.
Foundry rose .63 to 10.76 on a deal with China Telecom.
FreeMarkets plunged 4.76 to 13.70 on negative analyst comments despite beating estimates. NetIQ
also fell despite better than expected earnings.
Expedia and JDA
rose on better than expected results.
Some technical comments on the market: Note: We include charts in the technical market commentary. If you can’t get the charts via the e-mail newsletter version, try this link: http://www.afterhourstrading.com/column.html
The Nasdaq (first chart) set a lower high on lower volume today, once again getting turned back at its 50 day moving average. In the process, the index formed a declining channel or potential bull flag. The preferred scenario would be a trip down to fill the index’s October 11 gap at 1626.26 to complete the correction, and possibly heading as low as 1614 or 1580. The immediate bullish scenario would be a high-volume breakout above 1740 and then 1752. First support is 1695. The primary technical feature for the Nasdaq remains last week’s massive bearish engulfing candlestick, which remains very much in play until 1752. Today was the last day of a cycle turn window; did the indexes top out today? Tomorrow should provide the answer. The Dow and S&P (second and third charts) are also forming declining channels or bull flags. For the Dow, first resistance is 9440, and support is 9300. On the S&P, first resistance is 1099, and first support is 1081.
Special report: For a free introduction to technical chart patterns and an overview of last year’s action in the stock market, visit http://www.internetstockreport.com/guest/article/0,1785,2571_500051,00.html.
