Coming Week: Rough Seas Ahead

As the market swung back and forth last week, with no apparent regard for logic, some investors were left scratching their heads, asking: What gives?

The coming week may be more of the same, with reports on jobless claims, pending home sales, consumer credit and exports having good potential to roil stocks further if anything unexpected comes up -- as might a potential rescue plan for Fannie Mae (FNM Quote) and Freddie Mac (FRE Quote).

On Friday alone, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged over 150 points following a surprisingly bad jobs report, then rallied to close up nearly 33 points.

As always, ever-fluctuating sentiment about oil prices, and what they say about the broader global economy, also affected the Dow and could lead to more earthquakes next week. Drops in oil prices were first considered welcome relief amid concerns that inflation would spiral out of control. This week, lower oil was seen as just another indication that demand is slowing.

"You can look at the glass any way you want -- half full, half empty," says Robert Johnson, associate director for economic analysis at Morningstar. "But clearly, if oil prices continue to go down, people are going to be saying it's a problem and we're nearing recession."

Johnson notes that the dramatic drop in oil futures -- from a high of more than $147.27 per barrel in July to Friday's close of $106.23 -- will have an effect not only on inflation, like the producer price index to be released next Friday, but also on trade data, as the U.S. pays less for imports of the commodity.