In the first full week of trading of 2014, the stock market's performance was less than dazzling. While the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.46%) and Nasdaq (^IXIC -0.64%) both finished in the plus column, the Dow Industrials (^DJI -0.98%) finished down for the week.
Friday's monthly jobs report left some wondering if the U.S. economy was weaker than previously thought. While the consensus estimate for December's jobs was 200,000, only 74,000 jobs were added for the month. In this segment from Investor Beat, Motley Fool analyst Ron Gross analyzes the macroeconomic landscape, and shares why he's still optimistic about America's economy.
