"Friday we saw some pretty good movement in the semiconductor index, and the semis are generally the most influential group for the Nasdaq," Sheldon added. "If we can see some follow-through strength in the semis next week, that could transfer to the Nasdaq."
But even if the tech-heavy Nasdaq starts to play catch-up to the other indexes, the broader market is likely to sway in a trading range for now.
"I just don't see a whole lot out there that could push us a lot higher," said Joe Sunderman, market analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The most positive thing we could see over the next few weeks would be for stocks to trade in a range." But the most potentially market-moving news may come from Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who delivers his semi-annual testimony before Congress starting Wednesday. (For a preview of the week's key economic reports, click here.)
"At the Congressional hearings next week, there will be a lot of noise about the Bush administration's budget, the budget deficits and Social Security, as well as talk of interest rates," said Ram Kolluri, chief investment officer at GlobalValue Investors.
While the Fed has made it clear that short-term rates are set to continue to rise this year, comments from some of the central bank's governors earlier last week threw into question the timeline of such rate hikes. Some Fed watchers speculate the central bank will only raise rates at the next few policy-setting meetings, and then sit tight for a bit.
The Fed's target for its fed funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, now stands at 2.5 percent after six straight quarter-point increases starting last June.
"If Greenspan is more hawkish, implying that rates will rise faster than thought, that may bother investors," said Spencer Clarke's Sheldon. "If Greenspan continues to stress that rates can rise at a 'measured' pace, that may impress the market."
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