The Night Watch: Cisco, Microsoft Top Charts; Action Muted Pending Election Outcome

Updated from 6:29 p.m.

Topping the most-actives chart on Island ECN tonight was Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote).

But while more than 3 million shares of Cisco traded last night on Island, only 69,000 were recently in play tonight. And while volume neared 4 million shares last night on Instinet, it was lately at about 140,000 on the platform.

Last night, the networking-equipment manufacturer reported good news. The bellwether listed earnings of 18 cents a share, beating analyst estimates by a penny, as it has done for the past several quarters. Revenue popped 66% from a year ago, to $6.52 billion from $3.92 billion. And research analysts raised this morning their earnings estimates for Cisco.

Still, Cisco's stock hunkered in negative territory this morning, before it regrouped to finish up $1.63, or 3%, to $56.75. Tonight, the tech company gained 25 cents, or 0.44%, to $57 on Island and advanced 38 cents, or 0.7%, to $57.13 on Instinet.

News that Cisco's inventory stockpile for communications chips rose 59% over last quarter proved to some Wall Streeters that there will be slowdown in demand for chips, hitting the semiconductor sector hard today. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index dropped 4.05% today.

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On the night watch, shares of semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom (BRCM Quote), which plunged 19.4% earlier today, recovered $2.25, or 1.3%, to $179.25. Cisco accounts for about 15% of Broadcom's total revenue.

Similarly, shares of GlobeSpan (GSPN Quote), a manufacturer of advanced digital subscriber line (DSL) circuits, dropped 25.9% today. Cisco is GlobeSpan's top customer. Tonight, the stock took back $1.63, or 3.23%, to $51.88 on Island.

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Microsoft (MSFT Quote) gained 63 cents, or 0.9%, to $71.13 on Instinet and boosted $1.25, or 1.76%, to $72.25. Investors may have bet that Republican candidate George W. Bush, who is expected to go easy on the software giant in the government's antitrust case, will win the election. At last look, however, the race was still too close to call.

Twilight investors will keep watching.

10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EST)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Microsoft (MSFT Quote)	71.13	+0.63	332,377
Citrix Systems (CTXS Quote)	26.25	+1.63	224,120
Art Technology Group (ARTG Quote)	55	-0.31	154,700
Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote)	57.13	+0.38	139,470
JDS Uniphase ( JDSU Quote)	74.19	+0.06	125,443
Sema Group (SEMA Quote)	24.44	--	125,100
Oracle (ORCL Quote)	27.19	+0.63	110,058
724 Solutions (SVNX Quote)	28	--	110,000
Intel (INTC Quote)	46.25	+0.06	95,500
Dell Computer (DELL Quote)	32.75	+0.19	92,300

This information is provided by Instinet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters (RTRSY Quote). For further information, please contact Instinet at www.instinet.com.

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8:00 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote)	57	+0.25	68,658
Oracle (ORCL Quote)	27.19	+0.63	52,070
CMGI (CMGI Quote)	24.19	+0.5	51,896
GlobeSpan (GSPN Quote)	51.88	+1.63	50,953
Microsoft ( MSFT Quote)	72.25	+1.25	50,802
PSINet (PSIX Quote)	2.43	+0.09	45,553
Broadcom (BRCM Quote)	179.44	+2.44	45,466
PMC Sierra (PMCS Quote)	131.25	+3.38	40,824
Citrix Systems (CTXS Quote)	26.06	+1.44	40,227
InfoSpace (INSP Quote)	25.13	+0.31	35,615

Island ECN, owned by Datek Online, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

Confused? TheStreet.com explains how the rules change when the sun goes down in Investing Basics: Night Owl, a section devoted to after-hours trading.