Shares of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) have put on an amazing light show of late.



Chart Courtesy of StockCharts.com

Old technology stocks were given up for dead several years ago. It is true that PCs have gone the way of the refrigerator. They are wonderful, we can't live without them, but they aren't really sexy. Everyone has one, so the magic is gone.

But Microsoft has been quietly expanding its business line. It makes game consoles, it has a search engine, and it's got its foot into just about every kind of software. It's also number one or number two in just about everything it does. And it makes lots of money, and has lots of money to spend.

That's the kind of stuff that makes mutual fund managers get all worked up and makes them buy stock, especially if it's cheap, which Microsoft was in December 2011 before its current run began.

The markets are starting to lose interest. Only the European stocks are responding with big moves, while U.S. and Asian stocks are starting to look toward more regional problems as catalysts for moving prices.

The stock has had a 20% gain since then, and has contributed to the rise of the Nasdaq 100, the Dow Industrials, and the Nasdaq Composite. It is getting overbought, and it's due for a pause.

What's the lesson? Mutual fund managers can still move the market. And they still cling to old fashion notions of investing, like value, product mix, cash on the balance sheet, etc. Kind of refreshing to see this kind of thing in a day where high frequency trading and computer dynamics rule the market.

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