Coming Week: Data Overdrive

Wall Street ended the first quarter with a full slate of economic data to mull over, and when the new, holiday-shortened, week arrives, there'll be plenty more to come.

No doubt, the bulls are hoping for clear signals that the U.S. economy is growing rather than slowing, but at that so-hard-to-achieve rate that's more akin to a consistent simmer than to a boil.

At the same time, they'll be trying to bounce back from a five-session span that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average lose 1%, the S&P 500 drop 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite surrender 1.4%.

For the entire quarter, the Dow ended down 0.9%, and the Nasdaq and S&P eked out the slimmest of gains.

The bears, meanwhile, will be looking for evidence that the continuing struggles of the housing sector, and in particular the subprime arena, are reaching other parts of the economy and foreshadowing a broader slowdown.

Neither camp will have to wait long, because on Monday, the Institute for Supply Management will release its survey on the factory sector for March.

Following Friday's strong Chicago purchasing managers' index, a report on manufacturing activity in the Midwest, expectations should be ratcheted up that the national number will be considerably better than consensus estimates.

Though the Chicago PMI is a regional indicator, it's often used to provide an educated guess about the entire country's factory health.