TSC Weekender: A Market That Can't Commit

THE PULSE Where TSC feels the market's beat. MORE THE TRADER'S TONGUE JJC translates Street-speak. MORE

Who sez TSC doesn't still have counter-culture credibility? Joey Ramone reads our site, according to a fellow financial publication. Let the critics say what they want. We are the choice of a new generation. Look for our coming Trade Different campaign, featuring Joe Strummer, Camper Van Beethoven and Green Day. For now, catch your breath from the volatile trading of past weeks with TSC's The Wild Ride, a special package Friday in which we assess major market sectors. Saturday our Personal Finance Focus tunes in to your portfolio. And Sunday in the TSC Streetside Chat, Peter Canelo talks about how the Fed has it all wrong. Don't miss it.

A Little of This, A Little of That

After the April 14 stock blowup, can anyone blame the markets for a somewhat noncommittal preholiday week?

Buyers bounded out of bed Monday, lifting the Nasdaq Composite Index to its biggest single-day point gain in history, a 6.6% gain, but on shaky breadth. Tuesday put the Nasdaq up another 254.41, or 7.2%, to 3793.57, back to where it closed the previous Wednesday. Sellers reappeared on Wednesday, sending the Nasdaq down 87.16, or 2.3%, to 3706.41.

Better-than-expected first-quarter earnings raised hopes as caution sent many into stocks with real numbers and solid earnings. Take, for example, the bedrocks of TSC Weekender's life. The burger-and-fries joint McDonald's (MCD Quote - Cramer on MCD - Stock Picks) Thursday beat expectations by a McPenny; AOL (AOL Quote - Cramer on AOL - Stock Picks) posted earnings of 11 cents a share, 2 cents better than anticipated; and Apple Computer (APPL Quote - Cramer on APPL - Stock Picks), where our good buddy Rick works, gave analysts the what-for Wednesday, beating by 8 cents the 81-cent estimate.

Little economic news contributed to mixed trading during the week. Tech experienced a dip. And end-of-day Thursday markets -- just ahead of Microsoft's (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) earnings -- slipped out early to celebrate Passover and/or Easter.

All in all, it was a rally without conviction, a selloff without commitment. Yet that comes as a relief after the week before.

Kayte VanScoy and Jonathan Englander, special to the TheStreet.com, contributed to this piece.

"I have not been able to locate this NYSE Composite Index. Can you tell me a Web site that shows it?" asks a reader. We have just the place. Try nyse.com, where it's posted on the front page. Before you surf away, though, perhaps you'd like to know a little more about this underdog composite index. MORE Enter the Idiot Box, where all your pesky little questions will be treated with kind condescension. As your fifth-grade teacher used to say, everybody else wants to know the answer, too. Please do send your queries.