Coming Week: More Euro Haze?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Observers say the coming week will be a déjà vu of sorts. Much like this past week, an onslaught of economic data will be coming due. But traders' eyes will probably be firmly focused, again, on any more developments from across the Atlantic, especially over the weekend, where haziness out of the eurozone has roiled the markets of late.

"I think the U.S. economic data is taking a back seat to the uncertainty out of Europe," said Michael James, managing director at Wedbush Morgan Securities. "I don't think there's anything that's going to outweigh the European uncertainty and the negative sentiment-dominated themes prevalent in the market right now."

Stocks continued selling off this past week, even as the euro began firming, as jitters picked up that sovereign debt risk throughout Europe will prompt policy measures that may ultimately slow growth in the region.

As a result, investors began contemplating the prospect of a spreading global economic slowdown. A previously announced $1 trillion rescue package did little to alleviate those fears. Germany's move this week to unilaterally ban naked short-selling, and other comments from European leaders, did nothing to dissuade concerns.

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By Friday, German lawmakers approved their portion of the rescue package, but many still expect Europe's travails, as well as the resulting market volatility, to impact much of the trading in the short term.

The markets will be looking for any signs of clarity and command out of the region.

"I think the markets are still being dominated by risk reduction and slowing European-growth sentiment. And the concerns about European sovereign debt issues weighing on Europe's potential growth and the spillover effect into the U.S. is not going to be a theme that's going to go away just because this week is ending," James said. "Because of the degree of European uncertainty, the Wall Street maxim has been 'sell first, and ask questions later,' and that's the sentiment we've been dealing with for the past two weeks."