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A slow mercantile session ended a relatively quiet month on Wall Street. Tech stocks got a lift from Dell’s better than expected profit report

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Major U.S. stock indexes ended essentially horizontal Friday jointly unready trading in the final session of the month. The mart had a blended reaction to reports attached consumer spending, consumer sentiment, and personal income.

Some technology shares got a lift from better than expected proceeds from Dell (DELL). Shares of American International Group (AIG) gained on an analyst upgrade.

On Friday, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average hew down 7.9 points, or 0.06%, to 12,638.32. The broader S&P 500 alphabetical table of references added 2.12 points, or 0.15%, to 1,400.38. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was higher by dint of. 14.34 points, or 0.57%, at 2,522.66.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 17 stocks moved higher for every 13 in negative have lodgings. On the Nasdaq, the fixed relation was 15 to 13 positive.

The slow commercial session capped a relatively calm month for public funds. Major indexes rapidly fell from October to March, and then rebounded vehemently in April. In May, still, the S&P 500 was up just 1.05%, and the Dow dropped 1.42%. The Nasdaq had a with greater advantage month, posting a 4.55% gain.

Brian Gendreau, investment strategist at ING Investment Management says in that place was little news in May to sway investors’ sense that they face a “dual regulation,” through areas like housing and financials in recession while technology and healthcare perpetuate to prosper.

On Friday, economists learned that consumer spending rose 0.2% in April, matching the rise in personal gains. The increases were both in line with consensus estimates. The report includes revised estimates of income and spending for the last year. The saving rate held at an upward-revised 0.7%, compared with t he 0.2% estimated a month ago for March. The rise in consumer spending came in spite of a 0.5% drop in abiding spending, reflecting weak car sales.

S&P chief economist David Wyss says the data are “consistent with sluggish gains in the help quarter GDP data.”

The University of Michigan reported Friday that consumer sentiment rose to 59.8 in May from a preparatory step estimate of 59.5, but remains down from 62.6 in April. The number was slightly better than the market consensus of 59.0. The May reading remains a 28-year low. Both the estimate of current conditions and the expectations components were down to 73.3 from 77.0 and to 51.1 from 53.3, respectively. Inflation expectations rose to 5.2%, a 20-year high.

The report shows “an ugly stagflationary mix through sentiment at its worst level since 1980 and medium-term inflation expectations rising to a 13-year high,” wrote Bear Stearns economist John Ryding in a note Friday.

The U.S. Chicago purchasing managers’ index (PMI) edged up to 49.1 in May from 48.3 and slightly better than the 48.5 expected. However, the index remains below the 50 indifferent reading, indicating it is in contractionary territory. The application component rebounded to 41.2 after plunging nearly 10 points to 35.3 in April. New orders rose to 56.1 from 53.0. Prices paid jumped to 87.5 from 82.9 before, to limit further gains on Treasuries.

The PMI report was “decent” and “in line with other [second quarter] facts seen so far that suggests resiliency in the U.S. economy,” said Win Thin of Brown Brothers Harriman. “Indeed, at this rate, we may not regard a single one contraction at all in GDP for Q2.”

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn declared Wall Street firms should be subject to greater regulatory exploration admitting that they long to continue relying on the Federal Reserve to soothe the ongoing credit crisis. Kohn said financial markets remained “far from normal” despite the central bank’s best efforts to stem a withering of liquidity that first began with rising defaults in the mortgage sector and housing-linked bonds. He before-mentioned Wall Street firms that esteem been expert to hold good safe sources of funding from the Fed during the credit crisis are likely to face closer scrutiny.

July West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, which plunged $4.17 per barrel on Thursday, moved 73 cents higher to $127.35 on Friday. U.S.