Looking For A Bottom

Morning News of Note:

• MSFT GOOG YHOO IACI: Surge in Internet Use, Energy Costs Has Big Tech Firms Seeking Power With both Internet services and power costs soaring, big technology companies are scouring the nation to secure enough of the cheap electricity that is vital to their growth. The search is being led by companies including Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and IAC/InterActiveCorp. (Full Story) WSJ
• DELL AMD: Dell to sell more AMD machines ANYONE OUT THERE still think that Dell will stick with AMD only in the four way space? If you think that was a curious choice, or more importantly it was announced for PR/stock reasons, well, you are right. . Sources all over Taiwan confirm that Dell is going to launch more AMD based systems, although they would not tell us exactly which lines. (Full Story) Inquirer
• BRCM: Digitimes reports global sales of WLAN devices were unaffected by the traditional low season in the first half of 2006, with this year's peak season to come in the second half as expected, said Michael Hurlston, vice president and general manager of the home and wireless business unit at Broadcom, in Taipei recently. A fast growth in the number of broadband subscribers in the US and Europe since the beginning of 2005 has helped stimulate demand for WLAN devices, mostly 802.11a/b/g-compliant products, Hurlston stated. Broadcom now sees the upturn in demand will continue and has placed more foundry wafer orders in order to catch up with demand, Hurlston noted
• GOOG: GOOG announced Monday a series of updates to the company's mapping product suite, further illustrating Google's commitment to creating powerful tools for sharing geographic information. Announced live at GOOG's first Geo Developer Day, these innovations both connect users to information about the world around them, as well as address the growing needs of the developer community. The updates are: 1) Satellite imagery update: A significant high-resolution imagery update for Google Earth increases the product's index of high-resolution imagery by four times; 2) New version of Google Earth: In the product's first major update since its launch one year ago; and 3) Google SketchUp with textured buildings
• STX: Digitimes reports Seagate on June 12 introduced its new lineup of hard disk drives (HDD) including a 1-inch microdrive that has 8GB of storage capacity and a 1.8-inch HDD featuring perpendicular recording technology. The company plans to launch these new products in the third quarter, according to the company. With Seagate taking over Maxtor, the company expects its quarterly shipments to reach 40 million units, according to Teh Ban Seng, Seagate vice president of Asia Pacific Sales and Marketing, adding that the new company plans to launch 42 new HDDs. The company pointed out that shipments that use perpendicular recording technology will account for more than 50% of total shipments next year, Seng pointed out. Seagate expects revenues from its brand business to total US$680 million in 2006 (Maxtor and Seagate) and the sector will further expand to US$800 million next year, Teh said. The CE and notebook segments are the main driver for the global HDD market, Teh pointed out, adding that the global HDD market for the CE segment will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25-30% from 2005-2009.
• Mad Money Summary: Cramer opened his show talking about the market's bottom - when bad news won't knock the market or a stock down any further. Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) have not hit bottom, he said, but he believes CI Communities (WCI) has. Cramer then suggested getting out of Digene (DIGE) because the CEO quit unexpectedly, which makes Cramer skeptical. Cramer then discussed TiVo (TIVO), which he said was " a dog of an investment, but could be a good stock to trade around." He said its volatility could make you a lot of money despite the stock being uninvestable. In the "Lightning Round," Cramer was bullish on Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMP), Alkermes (ALKS), Consolidated Edison (ED), Finisar (FNSR), MasterCard (MA), EuroZinc Mining (EZM), Corning (GLW), Netgear (NTGR) and Coach (COH), and was bearish on Quidel (QDEL), Portland General Electric (POR), Express Scripts (ESRX), Comtech Group (COGO), Georgia Gulf (GGC) and Universal Display (PANL).

Market Comments: The market malaise continues. The market opened down slightly this morning, and then turned higher. Currently, the SPX is struggling to stay positive.

Not surprisingly, GS beat earnings estimates by 50 cents this morning, but the stock still opened down. Tech is getting a bit of a bounce, for the most part. QCOM raised guidance.

Retailers are also getting a nice bid, on the solid retail sales report. Also, oil is trading lower today ($69) and the 10-year yield is lower at 4.97%.

long GOOG, GS, STX