For Stocks, a Shiny New Quarter

"We saw strength in the economic news, and more specifically the construction spending number was positive, but there seemed to be a general sense that there's a turnaround in the market, and particularly in the outlook for growth stocks," said Ken Tower, chief market strategist at CyberTrader. "Growth stocks became very cheap as compared to value stocks, and so I think that's starting to attract some money to it."

Tower added that "we saw some good news out of the technology companies with the PeopleSoft(PSFT Quote)-Oracle(ORCL Quote) news, which looks like it has been accepted positively in the market," Tower added, suggesting that the news bode well for Oracle's takeover play.

Friday's economic news was indeed mixed. On the down side, the University of Michigan reported its consumer sentiment index for September fell to 94.2. Analysts had expected a small increase to 96 points from 95.8.

But the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index for September came in at 58.5 vs. a 58.3 consensus view and a reading of 59 in August. Construction spending rose by 0.8%, vs. an expected increase of 0.4%.

The day's political news had a limited effect on markets. Many media organizations published polls suggesting that Democrat John Kerry, the underdog, was the victor in Thursday night's debate with President George Bush, the market favorite.

According to Tradesports.com, futures contracts on Bush's re-election chances fell Friday to a low of 61.6% from an intraday high of 69.9% on Thursday. But most investors weren't moved.

"There's an overall anxiety about the election and the campaigning, and the fact that both candidates came off fairly well helps people lessen that feeling," said Tower. "Its not surprising that Kerry should get the good grades for yesterday's debate, because any time a challenger stands up alongside the president and conducts himself well, that comes across positively to the public at large."