What a Week: Going Nowhere Fast

With Wall Street's big boys having already packed their bags ahead of the holiday weekend, market action was less than inspiring this week.

The best way to describe Friday's market was "flat and disappointing," in that it failed to confirm Thursday's hopes that a Santa Claus rally could finally be in the offing.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 2.08 points, or 0.02% to 10,891.52. Tellingly, the blue-chip average was lifted by a gain in General Motors (GM Quote), which sank to new multidecade lows this week after news of selling by Kirk Kerkorian and of Toyota Motor (TM Quote) taking over as the largest producer of automobiles in the world next year.

The S&P 500 index was recently gaining 0.57 points, or 0.04%, to 1268.69. The Nasdaq Composite was up 1.63 points, or 0.07%, to 2248.12.

Among individual stocks, Albertson's (ABS Quote) shares were recently down over 11% after the grocery store operator terminated talks for a potential sale of the company. Solectron (SLR Quote), which posted in-line earnings but lowered its guidance for the next quarter, was recently down 6%. On the upside, Staar Surgical (STAA Quote) shares soared after the company received Food and Drug Administration approval to market an implantable lens for nearsightedness in adults

Friday's lackluster action aptly reflected the market's nearly flat week. In recent action, both the Dow and the S&P 500 were barely up 0.1% on the week while the Nasdaq was losing 0.1%.

"It's nothing to write home about," says Art Hogan, market strategist at Jefferies & Co. "We've had a good November, and it took away the steam out of this market. This week is an example of that."

As the holiday mood descended this week, there was a notable drop of inflows into equity funds; to $4.9 billion in the week ended Dec. 21 from $6.3 billion the previous week, according to research firm TrimTabs, which tracks mutual fund flows. Inflows into U.S. equity funds dropped to $2.1 billion from $2.6 billion, while international equity funds had inflows of $2.8 billion vs. $3.7 billion the previous week.