Markets edged up a bit this week. The Dow led the charge, up .72%, with the S&P and Nasdaq lagging a bit, up .28% and .21%, respectively.  Promising reports on layoffs, factory production and consumer spending have contributed to hopes that 2011 will pick up nicely.

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell on Thursday. The number of claims declined 3,000 to 420,000, compared to estimates of a rise of 4,000. This is good news, but continuing claims increased by 22,000 to 4,135,000.  The mixed data points to a slow recovery- as we already know. But we do continue to believe that we will steadily, if slowly, win this race.

Next week will be a quiet one, given Christmas coming up Saturday. Durable goods and new home sales numbers might receive some focus.

This week’s factoid:  The $7.2 billion recovered from the estate of the biggest beneficiary to Bernie Madoff’s fraud represents about 36% of the estimated total investment losses.