ENERGY GAINS DOMINATE JULY ACTIVITY -- SEMICONDUCTORS ARE MONTH'S WORST PERFORMERS -- WEEKLY BOUNCE LACKS VOLUME

CRUDE OIL CLOSES AT RECORD HIGH ... Crude oil jumped over a dollar on Friday to close at a new record high. While that continues to benefit the energy sector, it's continuing to have a depressing effect on the economy and the rest of the stock market. U.S. economic growth for the second quarter slowed more than expected to 3%. Economists attribute that to rising energy prices. The energy sector was the top sector for the month. Utilities were the only other sector to show a gain. Materials and industrials lost ground, but did a little better than the S&P 500. The two worst sectors were technology and healthcare. Semiconductors lost 14% and were the month's worst group. A 7% loss in biotech hurt the healthcare group. The Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 were the month's two worst indexes, which reflected weakness in techs and small caps. Relative strength in energy, combined with relative weakness in technology, made for a depressing month. Although the major market averages bounced off their spring lows this week, volume remained light. More on that later.

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