Obviously today was a rout for the bulls. The Nasdaq was up 1.95% and the S&P was up 1.74% — and I thought I was having a flashback to the year 2000 when I saw the Dow touch +200 points. This morning I was hoping for increased volume and we certainly got that today. Volume wasn’t spectacular but it was definitely on the high side and much more than we’ve had the last few sessions.
Cramer took the words right out of my mouth today when he said that the bears got caught leaning the wrong way. I was thinking that for most of the day. How could you not be a bear on stocks with commodities ramping and rising interest rates? I don’t know how to prove it but I think a good amount of today’s buying was done by bears running for cover.
I think it’s too early for the bulls to declare total victory though. The major indices are just back where they were a couple of weeks ago. So here we are back at the top of the trading range with a ton of earnings reports due. That could be a recipe for a breakout or major disappointment. Also keep in mind that this is expiration week so crazy moves and/or pinning to strikes should not be unexpected.
Here are charts of the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and the Russell 2000, which closed at a new all-time high:
Here’s Briefing.com’s summary of tonight’s after-hours movers:
Companies moving in after hours trading in reaction to earnings: Trading Up: ILMN +10.8% (beats by $0.06, guides Q2 and FY06 above consensus); YHOO +6.1% (Yahoo! reports in line, guides in line); PLXT +5.2% (beats by $0.07, beats on revs; issues Q2 guidance; TXN +3.4% (reports in-line; guides Q2 EPS slightly above consensus); GILD +1.4% (raises 2006 HIV franchise sales guidance to $1.825-1.875 bln); IBM +1.4% (beats by $0.03, revs in line)… Trading Down: SMSC -5.2% (misses by $0.05, ex items; guides); MOT -5.2% (reports Q1 in-line, beats on revs; issues Q2 guidance); STX -4.3% (eports Q3 results, issues downside Q4 guidance and narrows FY06 guidance)… Companies moving in reaction to news: RJET +3.2% (Chautauqua Airlines subsidiary is chosen by CAL to operate up to 69 regional jets); GOOG +2.9% (sympathy with YHOO); CVTX +2.0% (filed for $200 mln common stock shelf offering); Mentioned on Mad Money: ARDI +8.9%, GOL +2.9%.
