Stock Influx: 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 at the week ahead and, lastly, a summary of articles and papers worth reading.

It was yet another good week for the major markets. The combination of QE2 and solid earnings proved to be a positive one, driving the major U.S. stock indices higher and further lifting commodities. The S&P 500 gained 3.1%, while the Dow gained 2.3% and the Nasdaq gained 2.5%. Cotton and sugar soared on the week, gaining 14% and 9%, respectively.

Looking ahead, cash and bonds look even worse than usual, and equities still don't look awful, so it is easy to imagine a continuing influx of money into stocks. At the same time, gold will almost certainly do well, as will oil, in part because of a weakening dollar.

Turning to economic indicators, we'll get a look at wholesale inventories Tuesday, jobless claims on Wednesday (released a day early because Thursday is Veterans Day, a government holiday) and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index on Friday.

As for earnings, next week will bring reports from Macy's(M), Sara Lee(SLE), Nvidia(NVDA), Kohl's(KSS) and Agilent(A).

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