Up until yesterday (5/25/05), the Nasdaq Composite had risen for eight straight days:
click for larger chart
Source: Mike Panzner
Mike Panzner observes: "Since the creation of that index in 1971, there have only been 86 instances (or 4.13% out of a total of 2,080 streaks of from 2 to 19 days) where the market has
had an unbroken string of eight or more up or down days in a row.
Not surprisingly, the lengthier streaks tend to be rallies, although one of the most notable downtrends was a 16-day unbroken string of losses that ended on 2/9/1984.
The longest unbroken winning streak was a 19-day run that ended on 8/31/1979.
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What is driving NASDAQ? Is ther a new purchase cycle for Informaton Technology? The equipment ages, breaks in general newer technology is more cost efficient. Workers are probably more computer savy and more able to use the technology than say in the ’80 when I was a programmer and many employees were not totally comfortable with computerizaton of what they had been doing all their lives.
nasdaq was being driven higher by semis as the anti energy and no corp debt companies but that string has come to an end as semis fall larger than the nasdaq comp today. these semis are cyclical, and i think the buyers want to play for an end of fed tightening rebound in stocks.
as far as computerization, i think you should realize that kids today, growing up, will be taking tests on computers only, like the sat test, and most kids are handing in homework which has been gone over by a microsoft word spell checker, i cannot imagine a kid these days being computer phobic like people were in the 80’s.