Coming Week: Awaiting a Bottom

"We're looking for next week to be a good week" for the retailers, Chalupnik says. "Expectations have come down so far, and guidance for 2008 looks to be pretty conservative. They should be able to hit that bar and move forward."

"The U.S. consumer is addicted to spending, and it's hard to break that," Catalano agrees. "I would imagine that numbers would match expectations."

Gold, which is threatening the psychologically important $1,000 level, is also likely to be in the spotlight.

Traders are "watching the dollar more than gold, and they react to the gold," says George Gero, vice president of global futures at RBC Capital Markets. "Gold prices are "going to be a 'wait-and-see' until March 18th, when the Fed meets." The Fed is widely expected to lower its target fed funds interest rate by between 0.50 percentage point and 1.0 percentage point at that meeting.

"I've been a big bull on commodities. Maybe they're going to correct, but I still think they're going to work their way higher," Wien says.

1 What would best describe your stance heading into the coming week of trading? Bullish Bearish Neutral 2 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move up in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities 3 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move down in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities View the results without voting

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