Last week, the rise in technology stocks and a better-than-expected jobs report brought stocks to fresh record highs. Even with Federal Reserve's Jerome Powell stating that the chances of a interest rate cut in March is unlikely, the S&P 500 added 1.4%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% and the Dow rose 1.4% - the fourth week in a row of gains for all three major stock benchmarks.
Economic reports from last week came back mixed:
•Job Openings - higher than expectation
•Consumer Confidence - lower than expectation
•Consumer Sentiment - lower than expectation
•Labor Productivity - higher than expectation
•Construction Spending - higher than expectation
•Private Employment - lower than expectation
•Total Employment - higher than expectation
•Jobless Claims - higher than expectation
This week, investors will look for guidance from economic reports like Consumer Credit and Jobless Claims.