European Wild Card Carries Into Coming Week

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Investment strategists say that Europe remains the wild card for an otherwise cheery stock market outlook for the coming week.

On Monday, during the extended Presidents Day weekend in the U.S., eurozone finance ministers will gather in hopes of wrapping up a rescue package for Greece.

However, Doug Roberts, chief investment officer at Channel Capital Research and author of Follow the Fed to Investment Success, says that although the Greek debt deal will likely be "put to bed" this weekend, "outstanding issues" remain.

One of them is public opposition in Greece to tough austerity measure required by the deal. Rioting and looting engulfed the Greek capital last weekend and could re-erupt ahead of the country's April general elections.

The Greek creditors are "going into contract with somebody undergoing a civil war," Roberts said. "How reliable is that contract?" he asks.

And "assume that things [in Greece] get put in the box. Italy, Portugal, Spain -- what happens to the rest of them?" Roberts asked of the other troubled eurozone nations.

Roberts, who describes the European debt crisis as an "albatross" to a full U.S. market rebound, says that investors will unlikely want to be too "far extended" in either long or short positions heading into the weekend.

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"If something goes wrong in Europe, investment will be going lower," agrees Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BITG.

"We've had large run from the bottom, up over 20% in the S&P," adds Henry Murray, director of trade desk research, Fogel Neale Partners. "You have a lot of momentum in the market, but also a lot of lingering macro fears about Greece."

Still, says Murray, Europe optimists are unlikely to go "short" heading into the weekend. "If Greece can get a new bailout, the markets could respond positively."

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at RockwellGlobal.com agrees that "the market may finally be able to deflect from the daily euro headlines, as a possible conclusion on Greece avoiding a chaotic default could be determined on Monday."

"The diminishing fear factor over Greece will allow investors to focus on the economy and strong technical market factors," he said.