Look for a simple pattern called a consolidation pattern.

A consolidation is when a stock’s price moves between a repeated price range for an extended period of time.

In the chart above, Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) formed a consolidation pattern between $12 and $15 a share from late November until today.

Every time Intel dropped to $12 a share, it went on to rally. And every time it hit $15 a share, it dropped.

To make money on this, simply buy shares when it hits $12 (the support) and hold until it hits $15 (the resistance). Then sell your shares at $15 and at the same time enter a short-sale (which allows you to profit as the stock price drops).

There is some risk though. Some stocks consolidate for a year – others for a month or two. But one day, it will begin a trend. So  always protect yourself with a stop-loss just in case the consolidation pattern breaks.

To support the deployment of Intel’s cutting-edge 32-nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology, Intel President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini said the company will upgrade four existing manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico to build faster, smaller chips that consume less energy.

The new funding represents the world’s biggest chipmaker’s largest-ever investment for a new manufacturing process and furthers its efforts to distance itself from its would-be rivals.

“We’re investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation,” Otellini said in a speech at the Economic Club in Washington, Bloomberg News reported.

“We’re investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation

Mr. Otellini’s speech emphasised that Intel was intent on making major investments when most other companies were being forced to scale back.

Boldness is in Intel’s DNA, as the company is known for its strategy of investing during downturns to give it leverage when economies emerge from recession. Since 2002 it has invested $50 billion in capital and research and development in the United States, where it maintains 75% of its production capacity.

Intel’s latest high-performance technology – code-named “Westmere” – will be used in building chip circuitry 32 billionths of a meter across. The tiny, atomic level structures will be 71% smaller than Intel’s current generation of 45 nanometer processors. The chips will also incorporate additional graphics capabilities.

“This is the level of technology where we find the sweet spot for a bunch of new markets we have been aiming ourselves at,” Otellini said in an interview with Forbes. “You’ll start seeing more thin and light products, Apple Air kinds of products,” referring to Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook computer which is powered by an Intel chip.

The move could help Intel grab more market share from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). Intel had 82% of the market for x86 processors – the ones found in most servers, desktop computers and notebooks – in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 76% a year earlier, according to Mercury Research. It will also help Intel’s efforts to penetrate other markets such as embedded devices and cell phones.

For its part, AMD won’t shift to 32-nanometer technology until the end of 2010, with volume production beginning in 2011. Although other chip makers like IBM (IBM), Samsung Electronics Company Ltd., Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd.(ADR: CHRT ), are sharing 32-nanometer chip technology and could ramp up production as early as the second half of this year, none of them can challenge Intel for control of the PC processor market.

The move continues Intel’s march to the relentless beat of Moore’s Law, which says integrated computer circuits would double in performance every 24 months, coined by  co-founder, Gordon Moore in 1965.

Intel has kept its founder’s legacy intact, setting the pace by building the fastest and smallest chips since the integrated circuit board was invented in 1958.

That provides a powerful advantage to the company, as tech-savvy consumers keep buying new generations of chips to run the latest gaming and other power munching software coming to the market.

“Each time we make this kind of transition people go ‘Big deal, I don’t need more power,’” semiconductor industry analyst Nathan Brookwood told Forbes. “But two years later if you try to take away their newer, faster machines you’ll have to pry it out of their cold, dead hands.”

Source: Intel Defies Layoff Trend – Spends $7 Billion Protecting 7,000 Jobs

“On Friday, we had the bad surprise from [General Electric Co. (GE)],” Ken Tower, chief market strategist at Covered Bridge Tactical, told MarketWatch. “But this week, we’re seeing investors pleasantly surprised that earnings overall are not as bad, supporting the view of a shallow economic decline instead of a more severe one.”

At midday in New York, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average Index was up 179.37 points (1.45%), to trade at 12,541.84. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index gained 48.43 points (2.12%), to reach 2,334.47. And the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 18.68 points (1.40%), to hit 1,353.11.

All sectors were up, with the basic materials sector (up 3.02%) and the technology sector (up 2.55%) posting the largest gains.

Intel Corp. (INTC) shares got a boost from strong first quarter sales results in Asia and Europe. Sales increased 9.3% to $9.67 billion, beating analyst estimates.

“These big market-share multinationals are still benefiting from economic growth outside the U.S.,” Keith Wirtz, Cincinnati-based chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management, told Bloomberg News. “It tells me conditions are not all that bad on a global basis.”

March industrial production also rose slightly for the month with a 0.3% increase.

“The manufacturing sector may not be expanding but it is not contracting either, which is good news,” Joel Naroff, president and chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors, said in a note to clients today.

In overseas markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 1.2% with an increase of 155.55 points to close at 13,146.13. Hong Kong’s blue-chip Hang Seng Index was relatively flat with a 22.98-point drop, to close at 23,878.35.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares gained 1.6%. Other major European bourses were up, with the Paris-based CAC40, London’s FTSE 100, Madrid’s IBEX 35 and the Frankfurt-based DAX all posting gains.

At midday, the dollar had lost ground against the euro (down 1.072%), the yen (down 0.010%) and the pound sterling (down 0.785%).