Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Adobe Matches Microsoft Rapprochement

Wall Street strengthens hope of a deadlocked Congress with a mini-rally to top yesterday’s run-up. There is strong support on the volume front, as the number of shares that change hands rise considerably from yesterday’s tally, in particular, on the Composite (Nasdaq).

Although most investors have bet on legislative gridlock, there is less consensus on what the market reaction will be should a one-party majority emerge in both chambers. Anyway I think any adverse or sanguine market reaction will be ephemeral; attention will quickly switch back to economic data once the political circus ends.

ADBE and MSFT have gone at each other for years. So it’s not that surprising that hot on the heels of MSFT's recent thumbs up to Linux, the open-source system developed by Novell, ADBE announces reportedly the biggest software code donation to the Mozilla foundation. Mozilla developed Firefox, the open-source web browser that has slowly captured market share from MSFT’s Explorer. ADBE seems determined not to be outshone by Mr. Softee. It’s your move MSFT!

Rumors of an EBAY exit from China surface again, despite pronunciations to the contrary by management on the earnings call last month. Such an exit will suggest EBAY cannot compete in a tough but growing market. With growths in key developed markets at a plateau where will EBAY go if it can’t stand the heat in China? First Japan, now China?! Honestly, EBAY needs to ride out the Oriental express, not hop on and hop off.

No comments: