I'm not exactly in agreement with today's market report.  First the Dow took a 70 point dive until about noon, then regained everything by 2 p.m. before losing it all again in the last half hour to close 53 points down for the day.  The opinion was that this was all a reaction to tepid remarks from Janet Yellen's speech this morning, yet she said nothing in her speech except to continue to confirm previously oft-stated policy that there would be no interest rate hikes at least until September and even then only if positive economic data supports it.  There was another opinion that investors have been blessed for some time now with a relatively calm market, but that this will get increasingly volatile after interest rates are raised.  What pray tell kind of charts are these people looking at?  The major problems with the markets in the past several years have been the enormous swings up and down as investors (mostly unsuccessfully) try to second-guess the Fed.  How can any objective party characterize such an environment with the word "calm"?  And how can any objective person characterize Yellen's remarks today as uninspiring when she told the market exactly what it wanted to hear -- that is that the expectations are exactly what she's planning.  Nope, none of this makes sense.  But once again it doesn't matter since the trading going into the holiday weekend was astounding light -- 4.9 billion. 

Business | Fri May 22, 2015 4:35pm EDT

Wall St. ends lower after Yellen comments fail to inspire

BY NOEL RANDEWICH

DJ:      18,232.02  -53.72      NAS:      5,089.36  -1.43        S&P:      2,126.06  -4.76

REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID

U.S. stocks ended weaker on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the central bank was poised to raise interest rates this year, in line with Wall Street's expectations.

Lackadaisical trading volume during the session ended a week of slow activity that has left many investors unconvinced that recent record-high levels are likely to last.

In a speech, Yellen said a rate hike would be warranted this year if the economy keeps improving as expected. She also said it would take several years to return to normal interest rates.

Investors have enjoyed an extended period of low volatility and steady gains, but with the Fed on track to raise rates this year and major indexes near records, the market could get a bit choppier in coming weeks.

“I think what Janet Yellen and all of the Fed officials have been doing is very carefully choreographing their move. I think this is probably the most telegraphed Fed liftoff in some time," said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Bolton Global Asset Management.

"They're concerned about the markets' reaction."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 53.72 points, or 0.29 percent, to end at 18,232.02 points.  After trading near flat for most of Friday, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 4.76 points, or 0.22 percent, to close the week at 2,126.06. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 1.43 points, or 0.03 percent, to 5,089.36.

Both the Dow and the S&P hit new records this week but Friday's dip left the Dow in the red. For the week, the Dow ended 0.2 percent lower and the S&P rose 0.20 percent.

The Nasdaq added 0.8 percent for the week.

Volume on U.S. stock markets has been below the month-to-date average for several sessions. On Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day long weekend, about 4.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 6.2 billion average this month, according to BATS Global Markets.

All of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors ended lower, led by a 0.8 percent drop in the telecommunication services index .SPLRCL.

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT.O) lost 1.10 percent after CNBC reported the company held significant talks to buy cloud software heavyweight Salesforce.com (CRM.N) but failed to agree on a price. Salesforce rose 2.88 percent.

Boeing (BA.N) shares fell 1.72 percent to $144.81 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Bombardier (BBDb.TO) was considering a third model of its CSeries jetliner.

Consumer prices moderated last month, data showed, but the so-called core consumer price index, which strips out food and energy costs, posted its largest gain since January 2013.

The dollar rose to a 3-1/2-week high against the euro and U.S. bond yields rose after the stronger-than-expected rise in core consumer prices.

NYSE declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,922 to 1,085, for a 1.77-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,566 issues fell and 1,177 advanced, for a 1.33-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 71 new highs and 36 new lows.