The first week of February was a rollercoaster. For the week, the Dow ended down .55%, the S&P .72%, and the NASDAQ .28%. These numbers do not tell the story, however, of a week that saw the Dow get down to 9835.

Among other woes, continuing concern over the debt obligations of Greece, Spain, and Portugal weighed on the markets. The countries appear to be in a position where they may default on debt owed to other countries.  While it is not likely to be an astronomical amount of money, the issue is concerning to an already-stressed Europe.

A good jobs report Friday can be credited with keeping the Dow over 10,000.  Unfortunately, it did not prevent the markets from falling as far as they did.