Monday was a quiet day for the US - markets closed for Martin Luther King day.
Tuesday opened strongly with positive earnings news from some of the bigger players. However, the momentum was not maintained and main markets fell back. Technology stock trading was cautious with earlier gains being wiped out. The Kmart chain filed for bankruptcy and there is still earnings news to come.
Wednesday saw the Nasdaq close 1% up with a blast for the technology stocks. Better than expected earning news was received from several companies although the Dow Jones only managed to close at its starting level for the day.
Thursday saw huge gains during the day which fell back towards close. Good profit news was released by several large companies including Nokia and Kodak. The Federal Reserve indicated that US markets are starting to firm up but did not fuel the speculation for another interest rate cut. Some of the gains were clawed back later as investors lost their momentum. However, the Dow Jones ended up by almost 1% and the Nasdaq actually managed the 1%.
Friday was a mixed bag with the Dow Jones showing a small gain of 0.4%. Technology stocks pulled back from their early lows with good profit news from Compaq. The Nasdaq ended the day down by 0.4%.