The three major market indexes all posted slight gains for the day on Friday. The Dow was up 4.23 points, the S&P 500 was up 1.55 points, and the Nasdaq rose 4.04 points. All three indexes showed losses for the week. A surprisingly large increase in the number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week and another decline in existing home sales added to market uncertainty.

Fourth-quarter GDP was revised upward by 0.2 percent, to an annual rate of 5.9 percent, but that may be partly attributed to the accumulation of large business inventories.

Next week, investors will have a number of reports from which to speculate about the health of the economy. On Monday, the Institute of Supply Management will release its manufacturing data; an index reading of 57.5 is predicted for February, compared to the January reading of 58.4. Also that day, figures for personal income and consumption are expected to show a rise of 0.4 percent for January, compared to the December reading showing a rise of 0.2 percent.

On Tuesday, car and truck sales data for February is forecast to come in at an annualized rate of 10.5 million vehicles, lower than January’s figure of 10.78.

On Wednesday and Thursday, retailers are forecasting that same-store sales for the month of February will show that consumers are returning to shop. This year’s figures cannot help but look encouraging compared to last year’s figures for the same time period.

Thursday will again bring the weekly initial unemployment claims, and investors are anxious to see a drop in claims. Real economic recovery requires a growth in job creation. With most fourth-quarter earnings reports in and two-thirds of them showing that productivity and earnings are up, the next step is for companies to begin hiring workers. Analysts, however, are not in agreement about what to expect from the Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls report. Averaging the disparate estimates provides the possibility of the loss of another 30,000 jobs.

International concerns will continue to add uncertainty to the market climate. Greece is still battling fiscal debts that threaten to impact the euro and the fiscal stability of other European nations deeply in debt.

9 Stocks to Watch

Nine Big Caps are still poised for strong gains with market and sector strength and confirmation. The nine stocks we're watching:

Black & Decker Corporation (BDK)
DIRECTV (DTV)
General Dynamics Corporation (GD)
General Mills, Inc. (GIS)
M&T Bank Corporation (MTB)
Rockwell Collins, Inc. (COL)
The Stanley Works (SWK)
Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC)
U.S. Bancorp (USB)

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