This entry is a day late due to our investment meeting being rescheduled.

Last week, the markets rose, and the NASDAQ set a high for the year. The Dow was up 2.33%, the S&P 3.1%, and the NASDAQ 3.94%.

As expected, job numbers were the biggest driver of the markets. Nonfarm payrolls were down 36,000, as opposed to the 75,000 which were expected.  Unemployment held steady at 9.7%. Investors took this as further evidence of continued recovery, and bet on a continuation of that trend.

This week will a relatively light one for economic data. Retail sales numbers come out on Friday, and of course we’ll note the weekly jobless claims, but there are few other large events.