A bear market rally, a sucker rally, or the return of the Bull?

Anyway it's obvious investors see chances in the Tech sector, for now at least!

A bear market rally, a sucker rally, or the return of the Bull? We remain skeptic and place our bets on a sucker rally.



IBM in talks to buy Sun Microsystems: report

BANGALORE (Reuters) - IBM is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems Inc for at least $6.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, in a deal that could bolster their computer server products against rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co.
That would translate into a premium of about 100 percent over Sun's Nasdaq closing price Tuesday of $4.97 a share, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Sun, which was not immediately available for comment, has long been cited as a takeover target for International Business Machines Corp, HP, Dell Inc or Cisco Systems Inc, which this week unveiled its plan to start making blade servers that power corporate computer networks. More...
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52H1GS20090318

Why Tech Stocks Won't Lead The Next Bull Market (MSFT, ORCL, AAPL, YHOO, GE)

(Source Sillicon Alley Insider)
Tech will be a long-term winner if you define it broadly. Innovations in energy tech, food tech, industrial tech and medical tech may help many of the companies around today. GE, for all its faults, has a lot of exciting technology.
Eventually there will be another bull market, and it's always a good mental exercise to play the "what will lead the next bull market when it comes" game. Right now it's particularly tough, since everything in the economy seems so miserable.
The two easiest answers are "natural resources" and "tech." We'll skip resources for now, but if commodity prices from last year represent some norm for when the world economy is humming, then it's easy to imagine these stocks roaring higher.
Tech, meanwhile, is always a popular guess. Tech and economic growth are inherently connected. Tech drives human progress and lifestyle advance. Tech is inherently on the cutting edge.
Tech also includes some amazing long-term winners that have led great bull runs. What's more, today's tech stocks have some of the best balance sheets around -- a particularly positive attribute at a time when investors are going over corporate balance sheets with a magnifying glass (or at least trying to, if there's enough transparency).

But it will likely be different this time.
The problem is that the current crop of publicly traded tech companies is getting long in the tooth, and the companies at the cutting edge of tech aren't public, nor are they likely to be anytime soon.
Tech will be a long-term winner if you define it broadly. Innovations in energy tech, food tech, industrial tech and medical tech may help many of the companies around today. GE, for all its faults, has a lot of exciting technology.
http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-stocks-wont-lead-the-next-bull-market-2009-3

Europe will suffer an earnings decline of around 60% and the present stock rally is a bear-market rally, Ad van Tiggelen Senior from ING Investment Management Europe told CNBC Wednesday.