Markets Could End Week Quietly

With a wary eye on Europe, traders are facing what could be an extremely light trading day Friday.

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NYSE trader

In the U.S., there is just consumer sentiment, released at 9:55 a.m. ET. U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day Weekend.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see tomorrow being the lowest volume day of the week. We’re still concerned about Greece and how that unfolds,” said Art Hogan of Lazard Capital Partners. “I think traders have to be nimble and part of that being nimble is being flat into a long weekend.”

“Typically on Friday before a long weekend with just about every concern you can list on a piece of paper, both domestically, and globally, it’s hard to imagine any large bets are made,” said Hogan. He said typically traders square positions and that means selling, but this week may be different because the market has already been in a selling mode.

Todd Schoenberger, managing principal of the BackBay Group, said there may be too many concerns about Europe for the market to end higher into the weekend.

“And remember — Europe has no holiday on Monday,” he added.

Stocks Thursday, just like Wednesday, reversed losses in the final hour. The Dow closed up 33 at 12,529, and the S&P 500 was up 1 at 1320. The Nasdaq, however, was down 10 at 2839.

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser speaks at 5:30 a.m. at a Bundesbank conference in Germany.

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