todays U.S Market

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The market closed the day in mixed fashion, as investors booked profits, but each major index still finished the week with hefty gains of roughly 3.0%. Not at all surprising, market participants consolidated some of their gains following the biggest four-day rally in six months. But while the Dow and S&P posted modest losses, as eight out of ten economic sectors closed lower, the Nasdaq recorded its sixth straight advance, getting a boost from Technology. On a more positive note, while the move to the downside was broad-based, below average volume suggests little conviction behind the weakness. Perhaps also providing a slight boost to stocks going into the close, that helped the indices close at improved levels, was some "double-witching," option-related expiration activity late in the day.Meanwhile, the lack of any major economic or earnings data to set a more definitive tone to trading perhaps also prevented a much larger sell-off. Pacing the way lower, amid falling oil prices and comments from Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, was the Energy sector (-1.0%). After closing below $47/bbl for the first time in three months yesterday, the June contract, which expired this afternoon, closed at $46.80/bbl (-$0.12) while the July contract closed down -$0.09 at $48.65/bbl. Greenspan's prepared remarks noted that, while energy will "remain central" to the economy's health, the current "price frenzy" is likely to cool as inventory accumulation continues and energy use is likely to decline relative to GDP. The Materials sector (-0.8%) extended yesterday's losses, as a strengthening dollar again weighed on commodities. The greenback climbed to seven-month highs against the euro (1.2560) after opinion polls showed that France and the Netherlands may reject the EU constitution and speculation that the dollar's three-year bear market may be over. Health Care (-0.3%) was weak, due in part to continued selling pressure in the drug space, while Consumer Discretionary (-0.3%) was under pressure amid widespread weakness in retail. Retail was in focus after Gap (GPS 21.46 -0.28) beat expectations by a penny and issued encouraging FY06 guidance last night, CarMax Group (KMX 26.50 -1.90) lowered its Q1 EPS outlook and Prudential downgraded ANF (-1.3%), AEOS (-3.9%) and PSUN (-3.2%) amid concerns of a denim glut. Financial, under pressure throughout most of the day after Morgan Stanley trimmed FY05 earnings estimates on Citigroup (C 47.80 -0.04), closed relatively flat for the day. Technology (+0.2%), however, eked out a modest gain, getting a boost from Semiconductor and Software.Chip stocks, which were under modest pressure early on due in part to reports that North American chip makers suffered a 37% drop in April orders, got a boost from upbeat comments out of Barron's regarding Applied Materials (AMAT 15.85 +0.13) and strong leadership from Intel (INTC 26.35 +0.34). Software showed relative strength after UBS raised its rating on the sector to Overweight from Neutral


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