Stock Market Commentary for Wednesday, March 30, 2005

The short-term market remains in control of traders and short-term speculators who will sell simply because they sense a lack of near-term momentum. This state of affairs will exist as long as mutual money flows are as weak as they've been for the past few months. Occasionally speculators will look at their charts and reverse course, bouncing the market with a range. Presently, they're testing the bottom of the current range to see how much "support" exists.

The economy continues to plug along, recovering at a modest pace, so true investors need not worry about these volatile swings.

Nasdaq trading volume was moderate (1.84 billion shares), and breadth was very strongly negative, with 2.71 losers for each gainer. Despite the disappointing point-loss, this was not a heavy sell-off. It was the kind of volatile sell-off that can be expected when trading volume is relatively light.

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-- Jack Krupansky