Real Story: Friendly Trend

The consumption data weighed on retail stocks such as Coach (COH Quote) and Target (TGT Quote). The S&P Retail Index fell 1.8%.

Major averages were further dragged down by weakness in last week's standouts, including Amazon.com and (AMZN Quote) American Express (AXP Quote), as well as a host of chip stocks such as Broadcom (BRCM Quote), Micron (MU Quote) and Qualcomm (QCOM Quote). The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index fell 1.1%.

Monday's decline may just represent "profit-taking" or perhaps is a reflection that a rate cut is "already priced in" to stocks, says Task, who credited Bank of America strategist Thomas McManus for the latter concept. But the session in no way overshadows the market's stellar monthly performance. For the month of April, the Dow rose 5.7%, its best month since December 2003, while the S&P and Nasdaq each jumped 4.3%, also the best monthly gains since late 2003.

" We're clearly not headed toward a recession," Task's guest, Joseph Brusuelas, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal, says of Monday's data stream. Brusuelas highlighted the 0.7% rise in real disposable income. "We've got a good number of months where incomes have increased. As consumers get more assured about their situation, gasoline prices recede and hysteria about subprime loans abates" consumer spending will rebound.

In the remainder of the podcast, Task reviewed the day's corporate news, including earnings-related moves from RadioShack (RSH Quote) and Sysco (SYY Quote); M&A action involving International Securities Exchange (ISE Quote) and Enpath Medical (NPTH Quote); as well as the latest speculation over the fate of Citigroup (C Quote) Chairman and CEO Chuck Prince.

Click here to listen to the entire podcast.