Last week, stocks fell three days in a row. For the week, the Dow fell 4.1 percent, the S&P 500 fell 3.9 percent, and the Nasdaq fell 3.6 percent, the largest weekly losses for the indexes since March 2009.

In the upcoming week, Wall Street’s attention seems likely to be diverted toward monetary and political policy. Ben Bernanke’s confirmation to a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve may now be compromised by dissatisfaction among members of Congress with the way in which the Fed handled the financial crisis last year.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its policy toward interest rates. It is expected that rates will not rise above the current near-zero level, but Wall Street continues to be anxious about the timing of the eventual increase.

On Wednesday evening, President Obama will give his State of the Union address. The markets have already reacted negatively to his announcement that he will seek stiffer regulation of the financial industry, which investors fear will limit profits.

Fourth-quarter earnings releases will continue, with investors continuing to be reluctant to retain their stocks on the basis of positive earnings alone. Investors give more attention now to revenue and company outlook than they have in the past.

Economic data to be released next week include, on Wednesday, existing home sales for December, expected to show a decline to an annualized rate of 6.03 million units, compared to November’s rate of 6.54 million.

Thursday will bring the weekly initial unemployment claims data. Last week, claims rose unexpectedly, and economists are hoping to see the coming week’s figures return to their downward slope.

Friday will provide the first look at fourth-quarter GDP, now expected to show growth at a yearly rate of 4.4 percent, about double the rate of the previous quarter.

Six Stocks to Watch

A very week overall market is leaving few strong stocks to watch, but six Big Caps are still poised for strong gains with market and sector strength. The six stocks we're watching:

Celgene Corporation (CELG)
Integrys Energy Group, Inc. (TEG)
Kellogg Company (K)
Mattel, Inc. (MAT)
McDonald's Corporation (MCD)
Starbucks Corporation (SBUX)

Dave Mecklenburg is the Editor-in-Chief of TigerSharkTrading.com.