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China Internets Lead Nasdaq; Buffett Increases Exposure To Airlines

X The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 ended mostly flat Tuesday, but the Nasdaq composite added 0.3% as Wall Street liked the look of more earnings reports out of China but dissed a couple of reports in the retail sector.

Sina (SINA) gapped out of a lengthy consolidation, rising 18%, on strong earnings. The stock's open price of 88.89 was a legitimate entry, but Sina is now extended in price. Sina still has a considerable stake in Weibo (WB), which also reported earnings. Shares of the China-based microblogging site soared 25%, also on strong earnings. It's also extended.

Preliminary data showed volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq coming in slightly higher than Monday's levels in the stock market today.

IBM (IBM) and Microsoft (MSFT) buoyed the Dow with gains of more than 1%. Nasdaq 100 winners included NetEase (NTES), Baidu (BIDU) and Yahoo (YHOO).

In the airline group, American Airlines (AAL) reversed higher, ending the session just below a 47.49 cup-with-handle buy point. Warren Buffett increased his exposure to American and Southwest (LUV) in the first quarter. Shares of Southwest added 0.4% to 58.27. It's also working on a cup-with-handle base with a 58.83 buy point.

A couple of retail reports showed that weakness has started to spread beyond the department store operators. TJX (TJX) slumped nearly 4% on a sales miss and weak guidance, while Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) plunged 14% on weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth. After falling 6% last week, shares are down 14% more so far this week.

Home Depot (HD) was a bright spot in retail as shares added 0.6% to 158.26, although they erased much of the early gains. U.S. same-store sales growth rose 6% in the quarter, well above the consensus estimate of 4.3%. Home Depot is another example of a stock that's extended in price. It's been on a nice run after a breakout over a 137.42 buy point in January. It found support at its 10-week moving average in April near 147.

Several China-based names in the IBD 50 soared. Momo (MOMO) jumped 9% ahead of its earnings report next week; New Oriental Education (EDU) added 7% and TAL Education (TAL) rose nearly 9%.

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