By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Correspondent

Stock Report

Since this report was written before the end of last week, there is little positive information. There was very little action on the Big Board. No one wishes to be exposed to losses if more terrorist or Mideast-related military action hits the news wires.

Early Friday morning, the Nasdaq fell again. Techs were stung by a slide in shares of Sun Micro and Applied Materials as an analyst downgraded the chip equipment group. Adding to the sour tone was a downward revision to first-quarter gross domestic product.

Trades in the tech sector centered on chip stocks after Goldman Sachs lowered its rating on the chip equipment sector to a “market weight” from a “market overweight” while also downgrading every stock in its coverage universe.

The brokerage cited the group’s recent stock performance and uncertainty in end-demand.

Confidence in the market is sill questionable because of the threat of more terrorism, but staying in the market is better than a move to fixed income.

There is still a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines, and investors are considering bonds and bond funds.

Friday, government bonds traded higher for a fourth session as fixed-income investors continued to look to stocks for direction.

Money market mutual fund investors are frustrated and looking for places to park their money, but a possible interest rate hike could reduce the value of bonds. What to do, what to do?

Let’s hope after the Memorial Day holiday there will be better alternatives.

-Noel, a seasoned investor, covers the stock market for the Town Crier.