NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The past week was a bit of a stunner on Wall Street.

First came Wednesday's lousy report on manufacturing and then, as if that wasn't bad enough, there was the truly atrocious June jobs report Thursday. And how did stocks react to all this bad news? They finished the week up, of course.

Something of a head-scratcher, no? Maybe there was some sort of statistical quirk in the data that meant that the big jump in the unemployment rate to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent, for instance, really wasn't all that bad. Maybe the future looks so darn bright that the Purchasing Managers Index's signal that the manufacturing economy continued to contract last month doesn't matter.

Or maybe it was just that the professional investors who run the big money spent the week lying on the beach, leaving the running of the market to junior associates and the algorithms that run on program-trading computers. One imagines that, over the long Fourth of July weekend, they'll probably have spent a some time taking a gander at the front-page stories on how dismal the labor market is.

"When the big players read the papers over the weekend, I can't imagine that they're going to be bullish," said Jack Baker, head of equities at Putnam Lovell. "When they come back, they'll probably want to make some sales."

Baker points out that there will not be much for investors to do in the coming week besides stew over the recent spate of bad news on the economy. None of the week's economic reports are particularly important, and earnings season doesn't get under way until the following week.

"I just don't see any catalyst to drive the market higher right now," he said.

It's not just investors whose optimism could get tempered by the recent spate of bad data; consumers could, too. The headline effects of the rise in the unemployment rate, in particular, could cast a chill.

"You are going to see a weakening in consumer confidence, at least in the near term," said Lehman Brothers economist Joe Abate.

The hope, however, is that all the money scudding its way toward U.S. consumers' pockets will be enough to overcome any qualms they have about spending. Those tax rebate checks are going to start hitting mailboxes later this month, after all, to say nothing of all the money from the recent surge in refinancing activity.

"The combination of a massive tax cut and massive money supply growth will almost assuredly spark spending growth in the second half," said Northern Trust chief U.S. economist Paul Kasriel.

With that spending growth, the economy will also improve -- both Kasriel and Abate expect gross domestic product to be growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent by the end of the year. The problem? That's the rate of growth for the job market just to stabilize, and it will need to grow by more for the tide to turn. It seems like consumers may remain skittish for the remainder of the year, leaving the economy vulnerable to shock.

• Alcoa reports second-quarter earnings Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters Research estimate the aluminum smelter earned 25 cents a share versus last year's 27 cents.
• Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect May wholesale inventories increased by 0.2 percent after falling 0.1 percent in April.
• The producer price index, due out Friday, is expected to show wholesale prices gained by 0.4 percent in June, bouncing back from May's 0.3 percent decline. The core, which excludes the volatile food and energy sector, is expected to gain 0.1 percent, in line with the May increase.
• General Electric is expected to report its second quarter Friday. Analysts expect it earned 38 cents a share versus 44 cents a year ago.