Coming Week: Enduring Issues

"Hence, while we can understand investor frustration at times about business trends, the concern over allegedly weak capex patterns seems contradicted by the facts of a dynamic spending environment schedule, in line with most companies' three-to-five year guidance," Levkovich writes.

In other words, business capital spending may actually (finally) step up to grab the proverbial baton from consumers who are (presumably) feeling the strain of the housing slowdown, adjustable-rate mortgage resets, and rising prices at the pump.

That may sound like bullish fantasy, but it's much more pleasant to contemplate than Iran's belligerence.

Notes & Notables

Other scheduled events next week include the following:

Earnings from Tiffany (TIF Quote) and Walgreen (WAG Quote) on Monday, Gamestop (GME Quote) Tuesday, and Red Hat (RHT Quote) and CarMax (KMX Quote) on Thursday.

Boston Scientific (BSX Quote) hosts an analyst meeting on Tuesday, while Brocade (BRCD Quote) and Adobe (ADBE Quote) hold similar confabs later in the week. Overall, the week is likely to contain some unscheduled warnings as the first quarter comes to a close. On a related note, quarter-end window dressing is likely to be a feature of the coming week's trading.

Additional economic reports include jobless claims and final fourth-quarter GDP data on Thursday, followed by personal income/spending, construction spending, the Chicago PMI, and University of Michigan consumer sentiment data on Friday.

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker is slated to speak Thursday, while Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are scheduled to speak at separate events on Friday.

Any signal from Fed officials that the financial markets "misinterpreted" last Wednesday's FOMC statement could certainly crimp the bullish tidings revived during this past week's rebound. On the other hand, confirmation of the Fed's new presumed neutrality (or silence on the subject) likely will keep the rally going.