Wall Street: The rally test

The big question -- can stocks build on last week's rally, which marked the best week in months?

EMAIL  |   PRINT  |   SHARE  |   RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer

chart_sp_week.03.gif
In the past six months, how often have you looked at your 401(k) and other investment balances?
  • Every day
  • Once a week
  • Every month or so
  • I can't bear to look

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Investors return to work on the back of Wall Street's best week in months - and that's both a good and bad thing.

"I think it's going to take a lot more time for the economy to work through all the issues, but the valuations on certain companies are appealing," said Gary Flam, portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors.

He said that the current cycle could follow the path of the economic era it is most often compared to: the 1930s. He said that during that period, the stock market bottomed in 1932, but the Great Depression stretched on for several more years.

The week ahead brings reports on manufacturing, housing, consumer and wholesale prices and the next Federal Reserve policy meeting. The economic news is set to show what investors already know - that the economy remains in recession. But what's more important is how investors react to the news.

The Dow and S&P 500 ricocheted off 12-year lows to spike more than 10% in just four sessions, while the Nasdaq bounced off six-year lows to jump almost 13%. That short sharp advance has left investors both hopeful that the market could be closer to stabilizing - and wary that the gains were just an illusion.

Eye on banks: In the short run, the financial sector and the U.S. government remain the drivers of the market.

Last week, Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) all said that they were profitable in the first two months of the year. But the quarter isn't over and investors will be looking to see that the earnings actually reported next month back up those claims.

Ahead of that, investors will continue to look to the government for guidance. Talk about reinstating the "uptick rule" that limits short selling and changing mark-to-market accounting fed the advance last week and anything related could help stocks sustain the advance this week.

"The investor class is looking at the Congress, the president and the regulatory system to show them they can have confidence," said Mike Stanfield, CEO of VSR Financial Services.

"People understand that being in the market means taking a risk, but they don't want to be part of a system that they think is rigged," he said. "They want to know that someone is looking out for them."

On the docket

Monday: February industrial production and factory output are on track to continue to decline as the recession wears on.

Production is expected to have fallen by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% in February after falling by 1.8% in January, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Capacity utilization, a measure of factory output, is expected to drop to a seasonally adjusted 71.1% from 72% in January.

The NY Empire State index, a key regional manufacturing report, is expected to have improved marginally after hitting a record low last month. The index is expected to have improved to a reading of negative 32 in March from negative 34.7 in February.

Also due: The National Association of Home Builders report on homebuilders' confidence in the current market and the outlook six months from now.

Tuesday: Reports on housing and wholesale inflation are due in the morning.

Housing starts are expected to have fallen to a 453,000 annual unit rate in February from a 466,000 unit annual rate in January. Building permits are expected to have fallen to a 510,000 annual rate from a 531,000 annual unit rate in January.

The Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, likely rose 0.4% in February after rising 0.8% in the previous month. The so-called Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% after rising 0.4% in the previous month.

Wednesday: The Consumer Price index (CPI), a read on consumer inflation, is due in the morning. CPI is expected to have risen 0.3% in February after rising 0.3% in January. The Core CPI is expected to have risen 0.1% after rising 0.2% in January.

The latest interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve is due Wednesday afternoon at the conclusion of the two-day policy meeting. The Fed is expected to hold rates steady near zero and to say that it is ready to take additional steps to help mend the U.S. economy and credit markets.

Thursday: The Philadelphia Fed index, another regional reading on manufacturing, is expected to have improved modestly to 40.0 in March from 41.3 in February.

The index of leading economic indicators is expected to have fallen 0.6% in February after falling 0.4% in January.

The weekly jobless claims report is also on tap.

Friday: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks in Phoenix on the financial crisis and community banking. To top of page

Features
They're hiring!These Fortune 100 employers have at least 350 openings each. What are they looking for in a new hire? More
If the Fortune 500 were a country...It would be the world's second-biggest economy. See how big companies' sales stack up against GDP over the past decade. More
Sponsored By:
More Galleries
10 of the most luxurious airline amenity kits When it comes to in-flight pampering, the amenity kits offered by these 10 airlines are the ultimate in luxury More
7 startups that want to improve your mental health From a text therapy platform to apps that push you reminders to breathe, these self-care startups offer help on a daily basis or in times of need. More
5 radical technologies that will change how you get to work From Uber's flying cars to the Hyperloop, these are some of the neatest transportation concepts in the works today. More
Worry about the hackers you don't know 
Crime syndicates and government organizations pose a much greater cyber threat than renegade hacker groups like Anonymous. Play
GE CEO: Bringing jobs back to the U.S. 
Jeff Immelt says the U.S. is a cost competitive market for advanced manufacturing and that GE is bringing jobs back from Mexico. Play
Hamster wheel and wedgie-powered transit 
Red Bull Creation challenges hackers and engineers to invent new modes of transportation. Play

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.