Whether consumers are willing to open their wallets is a big theme for Tuesday's markets.
First, Wal-mart's quarterly earnings will be reported in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.   Read More

Wall Street is increasingly worried that bubbling over oil prices will scald the economy and the stock market. That's just one concern for traders in the week ahead which also has inflation data, retail sales and housing numbers. There are also earnings reports, TV networks' upfronts for advertisers, and plenty of Fed, Fed, Fed.    Read More

With increasing anxiety, the stock market is looking over its shoulder at the energy markets. Oil briefly topped $126 per barrel today, and as oil trades above $125, we wonder how much these high prices will spread out to affect the consumer, corporate profits, corporate spending and government spending.   Read More

Commodities and energy are likely to stay in the driver's seat Friday. Those were the power groups, and the financials were the weaklings again in Thursday's stock market.    Read More

Both the variety and volume of stock being sought by short sellers this week has increased significantly, says John Tabacco, CEO of Locatestock.com. Lehman and Crox remain among the stocks sought most by short sellers, and solar stocks are in the top 10 on his firm's list.   Read More

Retailers' April sales reports could shape early market action Thursday and provide a window on just how the consumer is faring.    Read More

The drip, drip of rising oil prices could start to wear on stocks, but traders point out that the market has been fairly resilient and is still raring to go higher.    Read More

Don't be surprised if some of the market's next moves will be to pull back a bit, as investors consider whether stocks are running too fast. But that said, there are still a lot of investors ready to load and fire when it comes to the stock market -- and there could be some healthy buying in the week ahead.   Read More

April's jobs report could actually bring in more May buyers. The report is expected to show a loss of 75,000 non-farm payrolls or more last month. But Thursday's frisky market action could carry through if the report does not show up worse than expected.    Read More

Visa and some of the solar stocks are among the names most sought by short sellers this week, according to Locatestock.com.   Read More