Stock Market Commentary for Friday, July 15, 2005

The moderate gain on Thursday was not as good as it first appeared.  NASDAQ did rise a moderate 8.71 points, to a new closing high for the year to date (2,152.82), but actually closed modestly (4 points) below its opening level and well below its peak for the day.  A lot of people are somewhat skittish and have a "sell into any rally" attitude.  Even a decline in oil prices coupled with a strong retail sales report wasn't enough to cause the market to rise off its opening level.

The economic data was mixed, but fairly decent.

NASDAQ trading volume was moderate (1.87 billion shares), and breadth was moderately negative, with 1.25 losers for each gainer.  A gain on negative breadth suggests a shift in bias from smaller-cap stocks to larger-cap stocks.

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-- Jack Krupansky