Coming Week: Shoppers' Delight

A deluge of reports, including new and existing-home sales, consumer confidence and third-quarter economic growth data, will steer this week's market as the all-important holiday shopping season kicks into high gear.

"A lot of the next week's data releases -- especially consumer confidence and personal income and spending -- have major implications for the entire holiday sales outlook," says Phillip Newhart, economist at Wachovia. "Black Friday data may drive trading on Monday morning, but it's more anecdotal and company-specific."

The official start of the holiday spending season on so-called Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, started with a bang as shoppers flooded stores across the country in search of bargains. But the event was greeted by selling on Wall Street.

Stocks headed lower in Friday's shortened trading session, sending blue chips lower for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 47 points on Friday to close at 12,280, leaving it down 0.5% for the week. The S&P 500 dipped 5 points to 1401 Friday and finished down fractionally for the week. The Nasdaq fell 6 points to 2461 Friday, but rose 14 points, or 0.6%, during the four sessions.

Weakness in stocks on Friday was widely attributed to a drop in the value of the dollar, but it also reflected anxiety about a slowing economy and a broad slump in the U.S. housing market.

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