Software Stocks Pushing Ahead of the Nasdaq

Software stocks are leading the charge Wednesday afternoon, as good news about the war pushed the Nasdaq up more than 3%.

The Goldman Sachs software index was up more than 5% at midday, with big percentage gainers including

Adobe(ADBE Quote - Cramer on ADBE - Stock Picks), up $2.01, or 6.8%, to $32.69

BEA Systems(BEAS Quote - Cramer on BEAS - Stock Picks), up 72 cents, or 7.2%, to $10.82

Citrix Systems(CTXS Quote - Cramer on CTXS - Stock Picks), up $1.11, or 8.4%, to $14.41

Mercury Interactive(MERQ Quote - Cramer on MERQ - Stock Picks), up $2.51, or 8.5%, to $32.22

Oracle(ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks), up 71 cents, or 6.6%, to $11.47

PeopleSoft(PSFT Quote - Cramer on PSFT - Stock Picks), up $1.17, or 7.7% to $16.44

SAP(SAP Quote - Cramer on SAP - Stock Picks), up $1.34, or 7%, to $20.52.

Investors haven't had much confidence in software stocks lately, and there has been concern that macro events, including the war and the generally down economy, plus company specific problems, could lead to a spate of warnings as the market prepares for second-quarter earnings announcements.

"But so far, there haven't been any shockers," said analyst Mark Murphy of First Albany. However, the first calendar quarter ended just two days ago, and historically it takes a little more time for numbers to be crunched and for press releases to hit the wires, he said.

There are also rumors of a short squeeze affecting a number of stocks, Murphy added.

Other sources mentioned that PeopleSoft is being squeezed. In fact, short interest in the stock has increased more than 7% this month and now totals 16.7 million shares (5% of the public float), with a covering period of 2.5 days, according to Nasdaqtrader.com.