What a Week: Stocks Get Oil Change

"Resistance, resistance wherefore art thou," Shakespeare might say if he returned to life as a 21st century daytrader. For the second day in a row on Friday, the Nasdaq Composite tried and failed to close above its 2004 high of 2,153.83, set on Jan. 26.

Not that there's anything wrong with that: The tech-heavy index still finished the week with a gain of 2.2% thanks to oil's hefty drop midweek and Intel's (INTC Quote) upside surprise on Thursday night. That beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, which both climbed 0.7% for the week.

Prudential Equity Group chief technical analyst Ralph Acampora says despite the resistance, the Nasdaq is poised to breach the barrier and kick off another leg higher. "Any hesitation is considered healthy as it allows for normal near-term profit taking," he wrote on Friday. "These temporary reactions are taking place within the confines of strong uptrends that commenced for most indexes at their respective August lows." ...