Coming Week: Shoppers' Delight

The health of the housing sector, which has been considered a headwind to the market's impressive gains, will once again be the focus when October existing-home sales figures are released on Tuesday. The Thomson First Call estimate is for homes to have sold at an annual rate of 6.2 million units, up from 6.18 million the prior month.

"The market needs to see what was happening on the demand side of the housing sector, because housing starts, which is the supply side, have been plummeting," says Newhart.

Tuesday will also feature the durable goods report for October. Economists expect a drop of 4.5%, compared with a rise of 8.3% in September.

Consumer confidence for November arrives on Tuesday as well, with the market expecting a reading of 106, up from last month's 105.4.

The U.S. economy will be in the spotlight on Wednesday when the revised third quarter GDP figures are released. The Thomson First Call consensus estimate is for growth of 1.8%, up from the preliminary figure of 1.6%.

And in more housing data, the Commerce Department will release new-home sales data for October. Sales of new homes are expected to moderate slightly to 1.065 units on an annualized basis from 1.075 million in September.

Thursday will be chock full of economic data as well. Set for release will be reports on personal income and spending for October, as well as the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, which is expected to rise to 55.5 from 53.5 in October.