What a Week: Fits and Starts Foreshadow

"On a technical basis, today is one of the more critical days we have seen since this rally began way back in March," Realmoney.com contributor James De Porre opined prior to Friday's opening. "A breach [of those support levels] on a closing basis would certainly embolden the bears and cause some technical selling pressure."

Instead, skeptics proved unable to sustain midmorning selling pressure and major averages soared in the afternoon, albeit on tepid volume, which does somewhat undermine the significance of the advance. At 1.4 billion shares on the Big Board, Friday's volume was in line with the week's average but down from Thursday's reversal; same in Nasdaq trading, where 1.7 billion shares changed hands.

In sum, Friday's rally shouldn't be construed as a signal of widespread demand for shares. But it did prevent major averages from suffering technical damage, which is a positive sign (for those long).

Looking ahead, most market participants believe major averages are likely to be range-bound, possibly through August, with the S&P trading within a band of 970 to 1015.

"After a great run, we're probably going sideways to slightly down and consolidate gains," Curtis said.

However, the trader did express concerns about the weakening of the dollar this week -- which helped send gold futures up 5.4% this week to $362.80 per ounce -- and about the persistent weakness in the CBOE Volatility Index. The VIX closed below 20 on Friday for the first time since March 28, 2002, which was just before a big swoon -- something very few are currently contemplating.

Tune-In TaskMaster

I'll be back on WABC radio's Batchelor & Alexander show Friday evening, sometime around 9 p.m. PST/12 a.m. EDT. (OK, that's really Saturday morning for East Coasters). The show is nationally syndicated, so check wabcradio.com for local listings or Webcast options.