Markets ended the week on a bullish note with the S&P 500 rising 1.3% on Friday and the Nasdaq up 1.2%. For the week the S&P 500 rose .4% and the Nasdaq was down fractionally. Both indexes finished above their 50 day SMAs and in the upper half of their weekly trading ranges. After all was said and done on the Nasdaq the last 2 weekly CLOSING prices were less than 2 handles from each other. On the YTD front the Nasdaq has doubled the S&P’s 2.8% gain with a 5.6% move thus far in 2015. The S&P 500 now has a bullish ascending triangle with a buy point above 2125 which started with the first touch of 2120 on 2/25. The benchmark took out a double bottom trigger of 2065 on 2/10 and went back to test that pivot in early March and held firm. Dissecting one of the strongest groups within tech the software sector caught our eye. This bunch has been responsible for a good portion of the Nasdaq’s dominance and there was some bifurcated action this week. There were some disappointments with QLYS, FLTX and CERN all lower this week by 29.1, 17.4 and 5.7% following earnings releases. On the other hand there were some very well received reports with DATA up 13.6% and IMPV by 19.7% on Friday alone. Former best of breed play TRAK rose almost 9% this week and CRM continues to act well as speculation continues as to whether MSFT will make a bid. The chart leapt higher by 11.6% on 4/29 after chatter began. CRM’s chart looks similar to ALTR whom INTC reportedly has a hunger for. Are these “old tech” plays, MSFT and INTC out of touch, or do these salty veterans see good value?
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