This week, Friday tied up another week of gains in the market. The Dow was up 1.74%, the S&P 2.6%, and the NASDAQ  3.1% for the week. The only exception was Friday itself, where stocks retreated less than one quarter of one percent. There has been a lot of talk about a correction this month, but stocks seem to be resisting that notion. If stocks continue on this trend for the rest of the month, we will see another great quarter for stocks with a rise of about 15% – making a much-needed two in a row.

New consumer confidence numbers were released Friday morning, though stocks seemed largely to ignore the good news.  The numbers were up more than expected, preliminarily at 70.2, from 65.7 in August.  This figure contrasts with the expected rise to 67.5.  Also good news were the weekly jobless claims, which dropped 26,000 to 550,000, better than expected.  The economy appears to be moving in the right direction.

Next week, we will be watching several key economic data points.  Most important are the housing numbers due out Thursday. This is not to discount inflation, industrial production and jobless claims figures, which will also impact markets next week.