Coming Week: Santa Baby

"Less liquidity tends to exaggerate moves in either direction," says Larry Wachtel, senior market analyst at Wachovia. "The big question is whether there will be an event to get traders going in the first place."

Regardless if Santa helps boost the market, traders will have some monthly economic numbers to evaluate.

On Wednesday, new-home sales for November will be released. According to Thomson First Call, economists expect new homes to have sold at a rate of 1.02 million units on an annualized basis, up from slightly over 1 million in October.

Thursday's round of data will begin before the bell with initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 24.

Then, at 10 a.m. EST, the National Association of Realtors will release existing-home sales figures for November. Economists expect the sales to decline to an annualized rate of 6.15 million from 6.24 million the prior month.

December consumer confidence data is on tap as well. The consumer confidence index is expected to decline to 101.5 from 102.9 in November.

Friday's important number will be the Chicago PMI for December. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com are looking for a reading of 52.0, up from 49.9 in November.

The November reading was a surprise since it came in below 50. A reading below 50 indicates contraction, and the Chicago PMI previously had been above 50 each month since April 2003.