By Rick Glaze

The stock market was down Friday, but it ended the week on a positive note. Oil was volatile, moving to the mid-$50 range, while North Korean saber rattling added to the jitters in Friday’s session. The New York Stock Exchange composite, which is a broad index of the overall market, notched a meager gain of 0.8 percent for the week. The S&P SmallCap 600 ended the week up 1.6 percent after a slide of more than 10 percent since Jan. 1. Friday’s volume was light, which is generally interpreted as a positive indicator. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average both finished in positive territory for the week, up 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.

The Nasdaq rose 1.3 percent for the five-day session, accelerated by a surge in the share price of Google, which reported earnings that beat the analysts’ expected results. Not all Nasdaq leaders participated in the gains. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which includes many of the Town Crier index stocks, continued its year-to-date slide, finishing down 1.4 percent on Friday.

Bonds were steady, still digesting a recent run-up in yield earlier this year. The general obligation bonds of the state of California continue to be among the lowest-rated state bonds in the country due to a continued lack of confidence in the state Legislature to match spending with revenue. A budget reform process, which is essential to the future viability of the state, is being rejected by lawmakers, who continue to be shackled by special interest groups in Sacramento. Bond rating agencies are relied upon by investors to report the facts about financial risk. No upgrades for California are expected.

Meanwhile, inflation is running at about 3 percent, which is in line with long-term historical averages. Many analysts on Wall Street do not expect inflation to be a major risk in the near future.

The unemployment rate in California is moving in the right direction. The director of the California Department of Finance, Tom Campbell, reported in Pebble Beach on Sunday that the unemployment rate in the state has declined from 6.4 percent a year ago to 5.4 percent currently. Two decades ago it was widely accepted by

economists that 5 percent or lower was considered full employment.

Columnist Rick Glaze is the president of Glaze Capital Management of Los Altos.