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Today's Market Update with...

Harvey Katz, Value Line's Managing Editor

October 19, 2009 - 8:24 AM ET

The stock market eased somewhat on Friday, to close an otherwise stellar week on a rare down note. The setback was mild, however, and materially less than it had been earlier in the day. All told, the Dow fell 67 points and the NASDAQ eased 16 points. Still, even with this retracement, the Dow is just five points from 10,000. A new move above that plateau, meanwhile, is likely at the opening this morning, as the equity futures are rallying strongly in the pre-market.

As for the week ahead, we will be getting some key economic data issuances beginning with tomorrow's reports on housing starts and building permits. We also will be getting data tomorrow on producer prices for September. Thursday will see the release of the leading indicators, while Friday will bring a report on existing home sales. The data should be reasonably good in keeping with the third quarter's presumptive business recovery.

Finally, this is peak earnings week, with such notables reporting as Texas Instruments, Apple, Caterpillar, DuPont, Coca-Cola, United Technologies, 3M, AT&T, McDonald's, and Microsoft. It should be a critical week. Stay tuned.

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