Surprise! Retail sales for January, up 1 percent, was significantly stronger than the decline of 0.8 percent expected, particularly after 6 straight months of declines. The main theme remains: 1) lower-than-expected guidance for the first quarter, and 2) almost no visibility beyond that, with many companies simply declining to provide guidance. Read More
The "roads and bridges" approach to economic recovery President Obama talked so much about seems to have disappeared. Or, in the very least, it's much smaller than we anticipated. So are the stocks worth buying anyway? Read More