Stock Market Commentary for Friday, May 13, 2005

Despite the chatter about Wal-Mart's (WMT) weak quarterly report (and falling oil prices), market trading on Thursday remained strictly technical in nature. People are desperately struggling to discern whether to bet on a market decline or an advance, independent of the prospects of the economy over the coming year. The market remains in limbo. Nasdaq declined by a moderate 7.67 points, not quite wiping out the advance on Wednesday.

The weakness of Wal-Mart's results would have been no surprise to anybody paying attention to their weekly sales outlook reports. The new thing is the extent to which Wal-Mart is no longer an indicator of overall retail sales.

There were modest inflows to domestic stock mutual funds for a second consecutive week.

Nasdaq trading volume was barely moderate (1.79 billion shares), and breadth was moderately negative, with 1.69 losers for each gainer.

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-- Jack Krupansky