After a rough Friday, and a lot of new worries, traders get treated to a light week.
November 21, 2004: 9:39 AM EST
By Yuval Rosenberg, CNN/Money contributing writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – After investors sent stocks tumbling on Friday, will they be ready for some holiday cheer next week?
The markets should be relatively calm next week, and investors will get a bit of a breather-- the markets will be closed for Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday and will close early on Friday.
Going into the holiday week, when Wall Street news is likely to be slow and many traders and investors are out on vacation, the major indexes stand not far below their highest levels of the year.
The days around the holiday have traditionally been good for stocks. The Wednesday before and the Friday after have only 9 losses combined in 52 years on the Dow, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac. Recent years haven't been quite as kind as past years, though, with six losses in 16 years going back to 1988.
But the dollar and even oil prices weighed on investors' minds on Friday, after Federal reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that the weak dollar, and the trade deficit that undermines the currency, could cause economic problems in the future.
The dollar slid to a four-year low against the yen this past week and also slipped against the euro, which rose back above $1.30.
Also on Friday, crude oil futures rose more than $2 per barrel.
Before investors can get their fill of turkey and trimmings next week, they'll get a trickle of new economic data, including figures on home sales and durable goods orders. A revised reading on consumer confidence is due out Wednesday.
Next Friday also marks the start of the holiday retail season, and analysts will be watching consumer spending levels.
On the earnings front, it looks to be a relatively quiet week as well. Perhaps fittingly for the run-up to Thanksgiving, investors will have to digest earnings numbers from Campbell Soup, H.J. Heinz Company, Hormel Foods, and Krispy Kreme Doughnut.
Among the other names due to report earnings are Deere & Company, Tivo, and Toys R Us.
Other key events in the week ahead:
The National Association of Realtors' report on existing home sales for October is scheduled for release on Wednesday morning. Consensus expectations are for sales to have ticked higher to an annual rate of 6.77 million, from 6.75 million in September, according to Briefing.com.
Wednesday morning will bring the report on durable goods orders for October. Consensus expectations are for a rise of 0.4 percent, according to Briefing.com. Durable goods orders rose 0.2 percent in September.
The University of Michigan's revised measure of consumer sentiment for November is due shortly after Wednesday's opening bell. The preliminary reading came in at 95.5, up a stronger than expected 3.8 points and the highest mark since August. The revised number is not expected to change.
New home sales, also due Wednesday, are expected to have fallen slightly to an annual rate of 1.2 million units from a rate of 1.206 in September.
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