Leaders Index 7-22

The market was mixed yesterday with the Nasd rising on strong tech stocks while the New York averages were flat to down on earnings, mostly from CAT. Volume was down as would be expected on a summer Friday. The leaders bounced back a bit after a big hit on Thursday with the leaders index rising just over one percent on lower but still above average volume. The index remains below the important 17dma and the 9dma is right at that level also and coming down. The market remains in its current trendless trading range, although the tech heavy NDX did break above its recent highs. We have been in a trading range since last Feb. Either it is a topping process that will lead to a significant decline or it is a basing pattern that will be the foundation for another advance. We will have to wait and see. This is still a news driven market and the news out of Washington this weekend about the debt situation is not good. If the idiots in Washington can't get something done by the time markets open on Monday it could get ugly. Jerry