Market Turning?: Weekend Reading

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Good Sunday afternoon, and welcome to another edition of Weekend Reading. First a look back at the week that just finished, then a look forward to the week ahead and a summary of articles and research papers worth reading.

It was a good week on the markets, even if the economic data were unimpressive and currency and agriculture worries grew. The Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.5% on the week, and the Nasdaq ended the week up 1.3%. Commodities stole the show, however, with corn and sugar both up double-digits on the week after the U.S. announced that the harvests would be weaker than expected.

It feels like things are turning, however. The pace of weak news continues, currency worries increase, and although comparables are still relatively easy, it's not obvious that the market retains the capacity to surprise positively.

On the other hand, the market seemingly thinks it has a put in place in the form of more quantitative easing, with good news being bought, and bad news implying QE2, which is good for equities. Either way, that thinking goes, the market will advance.

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Turning to economic indicators, we will see data next week on consumer spending, core inflation and consumer sentiment.

As for earnings, next week will see reports from majors like Intel(INTC), JPMorgan Chase(JPM), Google(GOOG) and General Electric(GE).