Coming Week: Job Jitters

Stocks, headed for their fifth straight year of gains, will enter 2008 facing an uncertain jobs report that promises to dictate whether the opening bars of the new year will be a recession dirge or a gospel song of revival.

"Friday's jobs report will be critical for the market because it's a total wild card at this point. Nobody really knows what to expect," says Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist with Windham Financial Services.

"If it's weak, that could confirm that the bears are right and we're entering a recession as a result of this housing mess and credit crisis," he continues. "If it's strong, that may mean our worst fears from all this aren't materializing and the stock market is dodging a bullet." ...