After Market: End of the Tech Selloff, or a Dead Cat Bounce?
Stock markets halted their bleeding Tuesday after three days of heavy selling. The Nasdaq, which had tumbled 4.5 percent through the past three sessions, recovered a bit as many of the Internet and social media stocks that had led the decline turned around. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) edged up by 10 points, the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) gained 33 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) added 7 points.
A number of analysts don't think the wave of selling is over yet, calling Tuesday's rebound a "dead cat bounce." But for one day at least, many of the stocks that had been hardest hit recovered some lost ground.
Google (GOOG), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) all rose by nearly 3 percent, and Facebook (FB) gained 2 percent. TripAdvisor (TRIP) rose 4 percent and Pandora Media (P) gained 5 percent. Even the Chinese Internet giant Baidu (BIDU) gained 5 percent. But over the past month, it's still down 16 percent.
Some of the "old" tech stalwarts –- companies that have been around for a while and actually turn real profits –- continued to move higher.
Intel (INTC) rose 1.5 percent, while Adobe (ADBE) and Micron (MU) both rose about 2 percent. And Nokia (NOK) jumped 5 percent after Chinese officials approved the planned sale of its handset division to Microsoft (MSFT). Nokia shares have more than doubled in price over the past year.
%VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks%A group of energy and natural resource stocks posted strong gains. Cliffs Natural (CLF), Teck Resources (TCK) and Continental Resources (CLR) each gained more than 4 percent.
Other winners today: SeaWorld (SEAS) gained 5 percent as a California legislative committee delayed action on a bill to ban Orca killer whale shows in the state, in effect killing the measure for this year. And Nike (NKE) rose 3 percent as Stifel Nicolaus raised its rating to "buy" from "hold."
On the downside, biotech continue to struggle. Biogen (BIIB), Gilead (GILD) and Repligen (RGEN) all fell by about 3 percent.
Gigamon (GIMO) tumbled 34 percent after the networking data firm lowered its revenue outlook. And Nordic American Tankers (NAT) fell 10 percent after increasing the size of its share offering.
What to Watch Wednesday:
The Mortgage Bankers Association releases weekly mortgage applications at 7 a.m. Eastern time.
The Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for February at 10 a.m.
The Federal Reserve releases minutes from its March policy-setting meeting at 2 p.m.
These major companies are scheduled to release quarterly financial statements:
-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.
