There are serious worries consumer sentiment would deteriorate if possible U.S. military action lasts a long time.

The market's interest in millennium-related stocks is also supporting such shares . Other sectors aren't looking that exciting at the moment.

Share prices rose as technology shares here benefited from gains in the Nasdaq index.

The Wall Street tumble was pretty much within the range of our expectations. But Tokyo's gain could be just a one-time phenomenon.

This is typical market behavior right before official book-closings, ... We're seeing institutional investors selling cross-held shares and taking profits, while some are staying on the sidelines.

The market's been hoping the Fed will announce a shift toward a neutral bias (towards future interest-rate changes), which could help the U.S. market recover.

The numbers weren't that big a surprise. It's just that investors are very cautious about high-techs at the moment and sensitive to anything that sounds negative.

The market's relieved that the Fed rate hike is over with no negative surprises. Then again, there were no positive surprises either.

The extent of the U.S. economic damage caused by Katrina is so unclear, and that could weigh on stocks there.