The Market On Monday

Hey, Madoff gets sentenced today. One down, several thousand more to go. Swindling is in vogue.

This week its all about new data which will or will not support the sense that the recession is easing. The DOW and S&P will reflect the data.

Investors and the rest of us will look at consumer confidence ratings and job numbers. The job number will show that the stream of layoffs continues but hopefully it is slowing. We all hope that is the case, but hope is not really relevant, its a cruel unforgiving animal.

Offering a guess based on the trends and last few months, one might suspect that the data will be at the minimum, ever so slightly better. It is possible that the trend will be better but simultaneously disappointing. This is likely, but you never know, although someone out there has a handle on it now.

Reuters: Stock futures flat to higher as data awaited later in week

...investors looked for signs to justify earlier optimism...