12 Stocks Ready to Rip After Intel’s Huge Earnings

Intel reported monster earnings yesterday, and its shares are already rallying in the pre-market.

Then again, so are other key tech names as well.

Here are the key stocks to watch ahead of today’s market open.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Source: Google Finance

Texas Instruments (TXN)

Source: Google Finance

Microsoft (MSFT)

Source: Google Finance

Motorola (MOT)

Source: Google Finance

Taiwan Semi (TSM)

Source: Google Finance

Applied Materials (AMAT)

Source: Google Finance

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/12-tech-stocks-to-watch-today-after-intelss-huge-earnings-2010-7#ixzz0tjK1lf2l

Difference Between “a Market Bottom” and a “Bottoming Process”?

by Marty Chenard

… and, Where are We Now?First, a “market bottom” call is typically a speculative conjecture based on anecdotal stories and some improving data suggesting that a market downturn may be ending.

Often times, the improving data is not positive, but merely “not as negative as before”.

It is from an improvement of “not as bad as last time”, that some investors assume a conclusion that there is “a trend of improvement occurring that will continue into a turnaround where everything will become positive soon”.

Remember the old saying, “the trend is your friend”. The opposite was also inferred … “going against the trend is your enemy”.

If speculative conjecture is or was correct, then the stock market’s trend would have also changed to an “up trend” from a “down trend”. If that has not happened, then there is no “proof” that the speculation of a market bottom was indeed true.

So, let’s look at the stock market’s trend, and we will look at it on the New York Stock Exchange because that is where most of the Institutional trading is done.

Note the red arrows in the chart below. We have a low, followed by a high, followed by a lower/low on the NYA Index. The NYA Index is currently moving up … BUT, it has not made a higher/high yet.

By definition, down trends are conditions with lower/highs and lower/lows. Up trends, are conditions with higher/highs and higher/lows.

So far, we still have lower/highs and lower/lows. Until a higher/high is made, this is still a down trend.

After a higher/high is made, you need to see a higher/low followed by another higher/high for a new up trend to be verified.

Conclusion: We have not had a trend reversal yet. Yes, things appear to be improving, but the market is not entirely convinced of the sustainability of the improving conditions yet.

Revised Minimum Order Values for CFDs and Stocks

• New Minimum Order Values for CFDs and Stocks will apply from March 2009.
• The minimum order value applies to all equities trading, including CFDs, CFD DMA and Stocks, and is in place to prevent traders manipulating the underlying market price.
• You will not be able to open new positions via the platform below the minimum order size for the relevant exchange.
• See the table below for details of the new Minimum Order Values

Short Sales Rise to Most Since September – NYSE Says

Bets against U.S. stocks reached the highest since September, according to short-selling data released by the New York Stock Exchange.

More than 16.1 billion shares were sold short on the NYSE as of March 13, the exchange said today. That’s the most since 17.1 billion on Sept. 15, the day Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy. Short selling is the sale of borrowed stock in the hope of profiting by buying the securities later at a lower price and returning them to the shareholder.

“It shows a great deal of nervousness,” said Jerome Dodson, who oversees $1.6 billion at Parnassus Investments in San Francisco. “A lot of the rally we saw yesterday was probably short covering because everything moved up so high, so fast.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 7.1 percent on March 23, the fourth-biggest rally since the 1930s, on speculation the Obama administration’s plan to rid banks of toxic assets will spur growth. The index has surged 19 percent since March 9, when the benchmark reached lowest level since 1996.

Short interest on March 13 was equal to 4.2 percent of the total shares outstanding, the New York-based exchange said. Citigroup Inc., Ford Motor Co. and an exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 are the most shorted on the NYSE, based on the report from NYSE Euronext. All three gained more than 5 percent yesterday.

The largest U.S. equity exchanges today proposed a so- called modified uptick rule that would make it easier to restrain short sales in stocks that have posted “precipitous” declines. NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and Bats Exchange Inc. recommended restricting short sales to prices above the current best bid for a stock, according to a joint letter from Kansas City, Missouri-based Bats Exchange.

The rule would only apply to specific stocks that have slumped more than 10 percent.

By Lynn Thomasson

Watch “Opposing Forces” as the S&P500 is Testing its Low

Can a market positive and a market negative coexists at the same time?

The answer is: For a short period of time.

What you are describing when you discuss such conditions are “conflicting market conditions”. Conditions where there is a “force in one direction” being opposed by a “force from another direction”.

When the power of each of these forces is equal, there is a “standoff” where neither force has the advantage. Until one of the forces establishes the dominant position, the situation is a neutral standoff.

Let’s look at such an example today. Such a “conflicting market condition” shows up when we look at our chart of New Daily Lows on the New York Stock Exchange along with our zero-based Relative Strength for the S&P 500.

This is a fascinating chart because it shows that the S&P 500 is now at a major testing point. The S&P has recently dropped down to a level that necessitates retesting the November low. The S&P has not broken below the support, or rallied yet because …

Because … Just as this is happening, there are “conflicting market conditions” where opposing forces are offsetting each other. Each is holding the other back from a rally or from a descent down further.

Notice what is happening on this chart.

First, the New Lows peaked in October. The New Lows were then followed by a lesser rise in November while the market made a new low on the S&P. That was a positive divergence, where the market rose from there … only to fall back down to retest the S&P low again. But notice how, once again, the New Lows have a Positive divergence … and this time, the divergence is more positive than the last time. So, we have a “positive force” acting on the market.

Second, look at our Relative Strength for the S&P 500. Note that the Strength for the S&P 500 is negative. Also, note that the short term trend has been moving lower. So, here we have a “negative force” in play. (Some of you may also observe that the Relative Strength also has a positive divergence when you look at the October to February time period. However, the dominant force on the Strength is a down force because it has recently made a lower/low.)

Summing up the two, you have one positive and one negative force … a standoff as a battle of the forces fight for dominance. It isn’t until such divergent forces “clear themselves off the table”, that the stock market is able to establish a direction for the next trend. (The update of this chart can be seen every day on our paid subscriber site.)

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by Marty Chenard