The week ended quietly in an abbreviated trading session with the major averages hardly moving from where they closed on Wednesday. Small cap issues were the focus of retail traders as most institutional desks turned Thanksgiving into a four-day weekend. The Dow Jones Industrials closed up 1.92 points on the session and 0.6% for the week continuing a bullish bias.

Basic materials were the day's market leaders with steel (+6.2%) aluminum (+2.6%) and gold (2.3%) all up. Energy, healthcare, computer hardware, and telecom services rounded out the leading sectors. With shoppers scrambling to malls nationwide on Black Friday, the retail sector enjoyed gains that kept the S&P Retail sector up 7% for the month. Semiconductors opened higher as the latest sales data showed a 22% year-over-year rise in October sales, but finished slightly lower. Intel was under pressure most of the session as the Semiconductor Industry Association forecast flat sequential Q4 growth for consumer electronics and outweighed the good news earlier. Airline, networking, software and biotech issues also closed lower.

The NASDAQ Composite Index slipped 0.57 point to 2,101.97, putting it up 1.5 percent on the week. The S&P 500 Index added 0.89 point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,182.65. For the week, the S&P was 1.1 percent higher. Breadth was positive Friday, with Big Board winners outnumbering losers by a margin of nine to six, while on the NASDAQ advancers led decliners by 17 to 12. Underscoring the thin trading tone, volume was a paltry 501 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange and 668 million on the NASDAQ.

The dollar continued to fall to record levels vs. the euro, reaching as low as $1.3328 in overnight trading. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that foreign demand for U.S. stocks and bonds would inevitably wane if U.S. debt continued to pile up. In order to attract capital from abroad, he said, the Fed could be forced to raise interest rates. Also weighing on the greenback were reports that China's central bank had in fact, cut its U.S. Treasury holdings due to concerns over the dollar's eroding value. The dollar pared its pullback to 0.2 percent against the euro, changing hands at $1.3289. A member of the monetary policy committee under the Chinese central bank said his remarks at a Shanghai seminar had been misinterpreted in a local newspaper article but was the prime cause for the dollar's early trading weakness.

U.S. Treasuries fell on the reality that the recently plummeting dollar is prompting foreign central banks to cut their investments in U.S. securities. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond spurted up to 4.24% on the session. It appears the historic low in interest rates is just that--history. It will remain to be seen whether there will be a spillover effect on the stock market near term. Numbers next week will hold an important key to that possibility.

For the week ahead, jobs data comes at the end of next week in the November Employment Report. It promises to pre-occupy market participants all week long. The month of October showed a surprisingly strong increase of 337K in non-farm payrolls, expectations of an upside surprise will be high going into the November report. The consensus estimate is currently pegged at 200K. This report will help solidify expectations for the timing, and scope, of the Fed's next tightening move and also help shape the outlook for holiday spending.

The big report next week is Tuesday's Consumer Confidence Index. From an economic standpoint, this report will be keenly assessing consumer attitudes entering the holiday selling season. The consensus estimate is 96.8, which is up from 92.8 in the prior month. A reading below the consensus shouldn't cause much of a stir provided it is above the prior reading. With energy prices moderating and hiring activity improving, the market is likely to tolerate a slightly weaker than expected result for now.

A Pfizer Investor Meeting will be held on Tuesday, as the leading pharmaceutical giant has been in the market's hot seat over concerns regarding COX-2 inhibitors and patent expirations. After the close Thursday, Intel will hold it's mid 2nd quarter update which can often carry market moving potential given the trickle-down effect of the chip-making leader's comments on end demand for its widely-placed products. The market's preference is for Intel to narrow its revenue guidance range to the upper end of its preliminary forecast of $8.6 - $9.2 bil (consensus $8.97 bil.) Gross margin estimate for the semiconductor stalwart was set at 56%, plus or minus a couple points.

The market has staged an impressive run despite a weak dollar and the reality of rising interest rates. Whether there is one more week left in what has been a breakout move has yet to be determined. Like we say...

Stay Tuned!