Pat Fitzgibbons Chats on Yahoo!, April 4

Below is the transcript of Pat Fitzgibbons' Apr. 4 chat on Yahoo!. As with all chats, this transcript is unedited.

lareinadelmerbal asks: How much time should we wait to see the Nasdaq brighting again?

pat_tsc:Well, that's a pretty tough one for the first question. I think that in the next couple weeks, with the state of earnings that Nasdaq could have a pretty good move back up.

honey_crash asks: Was the Nasdaq tech dive solely because of the Microsoft(MSFT Quote) verdict?

pat_tsc:The Microsoft verdict really didn't help, that's for sure, but there were a lot of things that have hit the market all at once -- the verdict, strategists sending contradictory messages and margin calls. This is really just a very volatile time

honey_crash asks: Do you foresee a return to normal in the next couple of days?

pat_tsc:Hmm. In this market what is normal? I think there will continue to be a good deal of volatility this week, especially in the first and last hours of trading. Those will be very important to watch.

zooey_franny asks: Is this as bad as the crash of '87? are people nervous?

pat_tsc:Nah, the Crash of '87 was a horrendous event, to be sure, and a lot of people did lose a lot of money today. But don't forget that the market did come back today. There are still some very strong underpinnings to this market.

hotpinkgirl_2000 asks: What's the expectation for

Dell(DELL Quote)

pat_tsc:Well, I can't really make a recommendation on a specific stock, but Dell did stage a pretty nice comeback today.

pat_tsc:It will be important to watch its earnings and the overall performance of the tech sector, though.

lareinadelmerbal asks: What could happen to Microsoft?

pat_tsc:There are really a whole host of things that could happen to the company. It could be split up or it could receive some pretty substantial fines or have to make some kind of reparations to its competitors. This story still has a lot of legs and whatever the penalty, you can bet that (Bill) Gates and his pals will be appealing it.

squeakycat_2000 asks: Is Microsoft the real cause of plunging Tech stocks or is it correction time, what is it?

pat_tsc:Microsoft is, without a doubt a cause. It is not the only cause, though.

sweetlinda_99 asks: First hour Nasdaq was up and last hour up from the big down, what does that tell us?

pat_tsc:That tells you one of the most important things about this market -- there are wild swings in the beginning and the ends of every day, it seems. Things are rarely as good or bad as they look in those hours and investors really need to be wary of that.

kelli_colleen13 asks: What are the hot stocks to invest in now?

pat_tsc:Without naming individual stocks, there are a couple of sectors that have been performing very well. The brokers and financial institutions have done quite well, as have the drug companies, for two.

cammy101 asks: Can the tech stocks bounce back to their prior prices or is this the beginning of a bear market?

pat_tsc:Certainly, the tech stocks could come back to their previous levels. Whether they will or not, is an entirely different question.

pat_tsc:The Dow is still way up for the past month and the Nasdaq took a 500-plus point hit and then bounced back to about unchanged. I don't see a lot of bears there.

hotpinkgirl_2000 asks: Predictions of the market to get back to the momentum it was expected in the Fall 2000?

pat_tsc:Look, it's pretty hard to say right now. But, if earnings come as people are saying over the next few weeks, there could be some real nice gains in some of these names.

jdsu123 asks: Why do analysts not realize that the trash they talk equals real gains or losses?

pat_tsc: Most analysts do realize that what they do has a very real impact on the markets. You may or may not agree with their assumptions, but remember, analysts are employed by investment firms who make money when investors buy stocks that those firms have for sale.

pat_tsc:Thanks for all the great questions and I'll see you all at TheStreet.com.