August 27, 2006	Sunday	Sha'aban 2, 1427

NEW YORK, Aug 26: US stocks remained stuck in a narrow range on Friday amid a dearth of economic news, with traders unwilling to take new positions ahead of a late summer weekend.The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 20.41 points (0.18 percent) to 11,284.05 while the Nasdaq composite rose 3.18 points (0.15 per cent) to 2,140.29.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index was off a fractional 0.97 point (0.07 per cent) to 1,295.09.

The market action came after slim gains in the prior session and modest declines earlier in the week seen as a pullback from the previous week's strong rally.

Investors continued to digest news of soft economic conditions from earlier this week, especially in the housing sector.

The stock market has handled the bad economic news in good shape, although it has put a damper on the decent market rally seen a week ago, he said.

The bond market is betting heavily that the Fed is through and by dropping longer-term rates is strongly telling the Fed to stop the rate hikes.

The stock market does not appear to be so sure that the Fed is through.A widely anticipatated speech Friday by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke “turned out to be a non-event,” said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at AG Edwards, noting that the central bank chief avoided commenting on current economic conditions and monetary policy. —AFP