Mixed Message in Friday’s Inflation Indicators

The markets had little direction Friday morning in light pre-holiday trading.
Two key economic reports on April spending in the U.S. produced a mixed
message. Spending on durable goods was slower than expected but personal
spending rose 0.4 percent which is slightly higher than had been expected.

The ISDEX lost 3.14 or .053 percent in the morning’s trading (hitting 590.23 at
noon). But the NASDAQ was up 2.52 or 0.1 percent.

There were some winners among the most active stocks.

GoTo.com Inc. was up 13 percent at midday to 17 1/16; the
search directory announced a settlement had been reached with the Walt Disney
Co. GoTo.com will be paid $21.5 million as a settlement in the
trademark-infringement lawsuit that resulted from Disney’s use of a logo in
promoting its Go.com network of Web sites.

S1 Corp. was up 21 percent to 34 7/8 after announcing that
it had received an equipty investment of $244 from five financial institutions.
S1 Corp. creates software that helps financial institutions do business over
the Internet. A Robertson Stephens analyst reiterated his buy rating for the
company.