Weekly review - after a good week, will we get follow-through?

Oil down, stocks up. Seems a simple formula. Dollar up, Euro down. It's easy to play this game, isn't it?

Let's see, what other games can we play? Banks pay fines for sleazy behavior in auction rate securities market, pay billions to wronged investors and take more junk onto their balance sheets. Financial stocks close the week with a gain. Huh?

Ok, so maybe this stuff isn't so simple after all. In actuality, as the market has moved steadily upward we have continued to receive numerous conflicting signals. This week initial claims came in higher than expected, extending the trend of the last few months showing a deteriorating job market. This contributed to lower than expected wage costs when the productivity numbers were released. Speaking of which, productivity increased, something not usually associated with a recessionary economy.

Other conflicting signals can be ...