A reversal of the reversal courtesy of another sort of "Tech Rec" and stronger "productivity" from bulls puts a bid in Thursday's market. As of 11:00 ET the SP-500 (SPY) is up 1.55% on heavier volume and looking to confirm better days ahead for the positively-charged and optimistic delta.

Wednesday's "give 'em what they want" reason to "sell the news" from the Fed has proved a buying opportunity. A technically weak close which produced a bearish gravestone doji reversing back below the 50-SMA has reversed or righted itself upright with bulls now donning their more optimistic game gear.

The quick and rather decisive shift began last night with a well-received beat from NASDAQ 100 heavyweight Cisco (CSCO) and an optimistic bid for telecom equipment giant Qualcomm (QCOM) on contract extension news. Additional support courtesy of better-than-expected productivity data [9.50% vs. 6.50%] provided further crowd control this morning in the pre-market.

For its part, Cisco, the world's largest network communications outfit, appears to have made all the right moves to prod bulls into "mootion." The company trumped both profit [$0.35 vs. $0.31] and revenue estimates, beefed up its existing buyback program by $10.0B and found CEO John Chambers appearing quite upbeat while issuing solid guidance for its fiscal year.

Intraday, shares of CSCO are up 2.50% near 23.85 and Mr. Market i.e. Goldie (GS) is looking ever smart as usual with its short strangle call in Barron's, which was respectively dismissed by this humbled strategist.

While the only "rec" for Cisco appears to be a few bulls and Mr. Chambers, a large assist in the tech sector can be found in the semiconductors (SMH, INTC, KLAC, NVLS, XLNX). The Semiconductor Industry Association increased its global sales outlook for chips to 10.2% for 2011. The group cited improving economic conditions for the more optimistic call and running counter to multiple downgrades issued for the group just two days prior.

Spearheading technically for the semis, chip giant Intel is up nearly 2%, while Microchip (MCHP), which released better-than-expected results, is tacking on 4.505 to 25.50 within an existing "you name the trend" situation; heavily dependent on one's technical perspective.

Elsewhere in movers and shakers, "Where's the beef?" It's not in fertilizer producer CF Holdings (CF). This morning the company received notice of Agrium's (AGU) "best and final (hostile) offer" for the company which they insist is for $45 per share in cash plus one share of Agrium stock or nearly $93 in total.

The total value of the CF bid now stands at $4.5B while seemingly uninterested shareholders have sent shares down by a puzzling 8% to 79.35 and a market cap of $3.85B. Admittedly, the required homework hasn't been done as to what's really driving investors mad in CF.

In passing, retail same-store sales data rose by 2.2% for the group on a whole according to Retail Metrics. The increase beat views of 2.0% but did enjoy the easiest year-over-year comps in more than a decade and which should continue through the holiday period.

Reaction by investors has been uniformly mixed. Fashion misstatements making the most dramatic stage with investors can be found in teen dreams Aeropostale (ARO) and American Eagle (AEO), which as part of the specialty teen apparel group saw sales slump by 4.70%.

Finally and entering the lunchtime nosh, I must confess, again. The technical view from this perch on the Left Coast was Wednesday's overall bearish pin action would have the Fast Money using their "Well, you had to lighten..." script Thursday evening. "Wrong" thus far. In fact, if Thursday's upside reversal of the prior day's bearish reversal is an important one if it manages to hold.

For growth traders, today's gains, should they hold in a strong manner, would signal a follow-through day or FTD. The higher volume bullish thrust marks the hopeful beginning of a potential intermediate low in the market and a time when conditions are typically more conducive to the bullish delta. We'll see. Personally and with IBD in agreement, with much damage done during this corrective phase, there's less reason than usual to get too excited just yet regarding a rally that sticks.

Chris Tyler
Senior Staff Writer & Options Strategist
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site
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The information offered here is based upon Christopher Tyler's observations and strictly intended for educational purposes only, the use of which is the responsibility of the individual.