Despite posting its first quarterly losses in a year, the Nasdaq had an
extra spring in its step last week on the cusp of a new month and quarter.
Still, tech stocks had more of a supporting role, as March's employment report
stole the lead. Non-farm payrolls grew at their fastest clip in four years,
far surpassing economists' expectations. "It is a big positive surprise that
provides more conviction that the economy will gain momentum in the second
half," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co, in
a Reuters news piece. "I think a good figure was in the market, but a great
figure was not." Other reports, namely the ISM Manufacturing Index for March,
also took the spotlight. Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First
Albany Corp., said to Reuters News,"...more importantly, the market's being
helped because we got the first piece of important economic news this (last)
week, the ISM report, which was very positive. It was a good report suggesting
the manufacturing sector is stabilizing, and came as a bit of a surprise to
Wall Street." On the corporate front, Hewlett-Packard provided a much needed
boost to tech stocks, as the Dow member received a favorable report from
Barron's, which sees H-P on track to post-merger success. Also, Sun
Microsystems and Microsoft settled a long-standing lawsuit. Separately, Sun
Micro and Gateway rallied on restructuring moves. Out of the communications
equipment space, Ericsson soared, after reporting that cost cuts lifted its
first-quarter gross margin above its forecasts. On the downside, Intel
slumped, after it paid over $200 million to settle a patent infringement suit
filed by Intergraph Corp. Of note this week are earnings from Yahoo and any
significant preannouncements that may foreshadow the trend of the impending
first-quarter earnings season.
High-Tech Monday Update is provided courtesy of Thomson Financial. This
information is believed to be true and accurate; we take no responsibility for
inaccurate information and reserve the right to update our reports. For more
information, please visit our web site at http://www.thomson.com/financial.
SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
back to top
