Tuesday’s mixed trade, which saw the Dow fall but the
Nasdaq and S&P 500 eke out wins, signals that investors are
uncertain as the EPS season winds down . Two important
earnings reports this evening – from Qualcomm and Cisco in
the tech sector – stand to punctuate what has been a good
earnings season. Qualcomm’s leading position in mobility,
and Cisco’s in the enterprise, will say much about go-forward prospets for these key drivers.
Yesterday’s Republican governorship wins in key states
(Virginia, New Jersey) may send a message to Congressional
members currently straddling the fence on big public
spending initiatives such as universal healthcare; these
members, mulling their job security in the mid-term races a
year from now, may be more likely to come down on the
right side of the fence.
Investors will remember that, while gaming politics is
always chancy, victories for the perceived more-conservative
party have been associated with market spurts. Most notably,
the Bush re-election in November 2004 reversed course on
what had been a year of successively lower highs and
descending lows, and produced a strong surge into January. goodluck.