Housing data take center stage for U.S. investors

Housing data take center stage for U.S. investors
Oracle, Nike, Micron Technology to post quarterly results next week
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — A raft of housing-market data and earnings from economic bellwether FedEx Corp. may offer investors fresh clues next week about the strength of the U.S. recovery.
Financial results from Oracle Corp. ORCL -0.13% and Nike Inc. NKE +0.50% and speeches from Federal Reserve officials may also take the spotlight next week.

“The economy is beginning to recover despite some doubters believing economic growth is temporary,” said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive officer of Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, Calif. “It’s our view that a real recovery is in play and that will likely lead to additional market rallies.”

U.S. economic data released in the past week were mostly positive, with a rise in February retail sales and manufacturing activity indexes and a dip in jobless claims fueling weekly gains among stocks.

On Friday, however, the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters data showed that consumer sentiment dropped for the first time since August and the Labor Department reported that February’s cost of living rose by the fastest pace in 10 months.

“U.S. economic news continues to be moderately positive overall,” said Marshall Berol, co-manager of the Encompass Fund ENCPX +0.51% “Plus, the markets are looking at the positives now and not the negatives.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.15% closed at 13,232.62 on Friday, down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.04% shed 0.04% to end at 3,055.26, while the S&P 500 SPX +0.11% climbed 0.1% to finish at 1,404.17.

All three indexes ended the week with gains of more than 2%.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-data...2012-03-16