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US STOCKS-Nasdaq gains after results; S&P 500 sideways

Published 10/22/2010, 01:38 PM
Updated 10/22/2010, 01:40 PM
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* SanDisk, Baidu shares jump a day after earnings

* Euro choppy vs. dollar as G20 finance ministers meet

* Dow down 0.2 pct, S&P up 0.08 pct; Nasdaq up 0.6 pct (Updates to afternoon)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Technology shares advanced on Friday as results from Baidu Inc and SanDisk bolstered the outlook for the industry, while the broad market was little changed.

Keeping investors skittish was a Group of 20 nations meeting that sought a common path to manage global trade, currency and macroeconomic imbalances.

SanDisk, a maker of flash memory, gained 2.1 percent to $37.88 and Baidu, the Chinese Web search engine, rose 4.7 percent to $107.28, a day after both companies posted results.

Also boosting the Nasdaq were shares of online retailer Amazon.com Inc, which gained 2.7 percent to $166.33 after Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the company, even as Amazon gave a disappointing forecast on Thursday.

"You have a lot of companies that I would consider attractive in terms of strong balance sheets and growth prospects," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist for Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.

But weighing on the Dow were shares of American Express, which declined 2.4 percent to $39.29 a day after the company reported results.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 25.06 points, or 0.22 percent, at 11,121.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.00 point, or 0.08 percent, at 1,181.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 15.19 points, or 0.62 percent, at 2,474.86.

Technology led gains in the recent rally, and the Nasdaq is up 17 percent since the end of August compared with the S&P 500, which is up 12.6 percent.

Early reports from technology companies have given a mostly rosy picture of the sector's future, including Google's much stronger-than-expected earnings a week ago. Baidu late Thursday gave a robust outlook for its business.

The S&P 500 sent a bullish signal as the index's 50-day moving average crossed above its 200-day moving average, known as a golden cross. That upward momentum indicator last occurred in June 2009, and the benchmark index rose more than 35 percent in the following 10 months.

However, the bullish signal can't always be counted on to signal an up market, according to Chris Burba, short-term market technician at Standard & Poor's in New York. "If you get a golden cross when the market has been consolidating for a while, you have a much higher probability the market is going to take off," he said.

Investors were alert for news from the G20, with the dollar poised to snap a five-week losing streak against major currencies.

Two top Federal Reserve officials gave contrasting views on the need for more stimulus for the U.S. economy, continuing a public debate over further monetary easing, even though most Fed policymakers appear to favor such a move.

Growing speculation in recent weeks that the Fed will extend the quantitative easing measures at its next meeting in November has pressured the dollar while boosting equities, but uncertainty over the extent of the stimulus has caused market volatility.

Equities have recently traded in tandem with the euro, with S&P futures rising along with Europe's single currency. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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