Stock Market Commentary for Saturday, August 6, 2005

Despite a relatively decent monthly employment report, we had a continuation of the latest bout of profit-taking on Friday, with NASDAQ losing a moderate 13.41 points.  The continuation of the sell-off was disappointing, but it's not uncommon for sell-offs to run further than logic might suggest since momentum traders like to push things as far as they can, and buyers would like to see the selling wash out before they jump back in.

There was chattering that the solid employment report was "fueling interest rate worries", but the simple fact is that the employment was not that good.  Unemployment actually rose, which is hardly a sign of an overheating economy.

NASDAQ trading volume was very light (1.52 billion shares), and breadth was strongly negative, with 2.07 losers for each gainer.  This was not a heavy sell-off.

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-- Jack Krupansky