Our hopes at the end of last week were realized as the markets had a nice bounce this week.  The Dow was up 3.98%, the S&P 4.5%, and the NASDAQ 4.45%.  The earnings season is upon us- and so far, things are looking good.  Both Chevron and Alcoa posted good numbers.  The dollar gained somewhat on Friday, but stocks seemed unruffled and continued their upward march.   Jobless claims were down more than expected as well—to 521,000 from a revised 554,000 last week.   Wholesale inventories were down more than expected, potentially forecasting gains for retailers as well.

Next week we will focus on retails sales numbers, and of course, initial jobless claims.  We hope for a continuation of the downward trend for weekly claims. Although this week’s numbers were a step in the right direction, the overall number of jobless claims is still uncomfortably high.