TECH STOCKS Trackers Say Nasdaq's Pattern This Year A Fluke.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: Jed Graham

Some traders smart enough, or lucky enough, to have sidestepped most of the yearlong tech wreck often suggested stocks could sink just as much as they rose.

Hmmm. They likely never realized just how prophetic they'd turn out to be. So far this year, the Nasdaq's chart pattern looks almost exactly like the inverse of its path through the first half of 2000.

By this time last year we'd seen the inflating of the technology bubble, followed by a bursting and partial recovery. This year, techs were beaten down to depths few would have imagined. That sparked a big April rally, which has given way to a new bout of selling.

Is this pattern significant? Probably not, say the market professionals contacted for this story, all of whom look at the stock market from a technicalperspective. Even if the pattern has held so far, they say, there's no reason to expect it will continue.

On the other hand, though, not everyone will dismiss the possibility that the Nasdaq's course this year will run opposite to its volatile movement in 2000.

"It's not uncommon to see turning points on the same day they occurred a year ago," said Stanley Harley, editor of the Harley Market Letter. "That does happen. But one has to be careful. You may get patterns for awhile that then fade and disappear."