Equities chose not to parade around in their Easter best last week. In fact, they looked rather drab heading into the holiday weekend.

Right from the start, stocks showed signs of lethargy in a shortened trading week devoid of headline-grabbing economic data. Equities did manage to eke out small gains in the week's final trading session, but they showed signs of lethargy at the beginning of the shortened trading week. Markets were mixed on Monday and down on Tuesday, even as Alcoa (NYSE:AA), the grand marshal of earnings season, reported strong growth.

The problem? The familiar drumbeats of inflationary fears remained loud, and they were further amplified by higher oil prices caused by heightened tensions with Iran and concerns over interest rates.

Metals, however, continued to shine. Copper even set a new all-time high in keeping pace with climbing gold and silver prices.

Perhaps the high note for the week came on Thursday, when the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note broke 5% for the first time since June 2002.

Investors choosing not to put all their eggs in one basket will have plenty to capture their attention this week, as the earnings procession continues. Dow components releasing reports include Citigroup, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Honeywell International, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Merck, and Pfizer. The banking sector will feature reports from Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, while tech reporters will include Apple Computer and Intel. Internet biggies releasing results will include Yahoo!, eBay, and Google. Significant March data to be released includes the Producer Price Index on Tuesday and the Consumer Price Index on Wednesday.

Stay market-tuned and Foolish!

Capital markets summary

U.S. equities

Commodities

Foolish quiz

1. Each of the three major indices fell on

__ (a) Monday.

__ (b) Tuesday.

__ (c) Wednesday.

__ (d) Thursday.

2. Bausch & Lomb (NYSE:BOL) blinked, posting the worst weekly performance in the S&P 500 Index.

__ True __ False

3. Festive earnings reports came from:

__ (a) Alcoa.

__ (b) General Electric (NYSE:GE).

__ (c) Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD).

__ (d) CircuitCityStores (NYSE:CC).

4. Sectors taking a hit last week included:

___ (a). aluminum.

___ (b). real estate investment trusts.

___ (c). water.

___ (d). distillers and vintners.

5. Last week's news of deals included:

__ (a) Bank of New York (NYSE:BK).

__ (b) Red Hat.

__ (c) VeriFone Holdings.

__ (d) Nasdaq Stock Market.

6. Shoppers at Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) may soon be able to take care of their financial business at Wal-Mart Bank and then travel a few aisles over to purchase guns.

__ True __ False

7. Insider-trading charges were levied last week against employees of these investment banks:

__ (a) Bear Stearns Companies.

__ (b) Goldman Sachs Group.

__ (c) Lehman Brothers Holdings.

__ (d) Merrill Lynch.

8. Investors can attempt to track oil prices through an exchange-traded fund.

__ True __ False

9. Newspaper companies reporting banner earnings last week included:

__ (a) McClatchy.

__ (b) New York Times.

__ (c) Tribune.

__ (d) none of the above.

10. Hear ye! Hear ye! Donald Trump was the most-mentioned mogul in the gossip pages of The New York Post last year.

__ True __ False

Answers

1. (b). The Dow dropped 51.70 points to 11,089.63 on Tuesday, reaching a one-month low amid worries over interest rates and oil prices. The Nasdaq also fell nearly 1%, while the S&P 500 declined by 0.77%.

2. True. Bausch & Lomb dropped by an eye-popping 20% last week to claim its prize as the S&P 500's biggest loser. The eye-care company saw red after it announced that it will halt shipments of its contact lens solution ReNu with MoistureLoc, because of reports of serious infections among some in Asia who used the product. The company now faces a class action lawsuit, and retailers such as Sears Holdings, Wal-Mart, and Walgreen have removed the product from their shelves.

3. (a), (d). Aluminum producer Alcoa opened earnings season after Monday's closing bell with a hefty 16% rise in first-quarter sales, a report that boosted its share price by 3.8% the following day. Circuit City also enjoyed a 65% increase in fourth-quarter earnings, helped by the sale of flat-panel televisions; its share price increased by more than 7% Thursday. Not so electrifying was GE's announcement on Thursday that first-quarter net income grew 9% across business units, except for NBC Universal and its power-generation and plastic divisions. Share prices sank by 1.7%; the conglomerate expects NBC to continue to lag in the second quarter. Advanced Micro, meanwhile, advanced nada when it voiced concern Thursday over future market share, despite announcing that its first-quarter sales rose by 8.6%. The chip maker's share price plummeted by 10%.

4. (b), (c), (d). According to weekly rankings of Dow Jones sector indices, the DJ US Water Index and DJ US Distillers & Vintners Index were the worst-performing sectors last week, dropping by 5.61% and 5.47%, respectively -- perhaps a bit surprising to anyone who sat through a traditional seder last week. Not so surprising, however, was the 4.18% decline in the DJ US Real Estate Investment Trust Index, given the rising rate environment. Winning first place was the DJ US Aluminum Index, pulling out a 4.82% increase, boosted by Alcoa.

5. (a), (b), (c), (d). Bank of New York lost 4.9% Monday when it announced that it will exit the retail business through a $3 billion asset swap with JPMorgan Chase, whereby it will receive the latter's corporate trust division and $150 million. Red Hat surged 8.8% Monday after it announced an agreement to acquire privately held software maker JBoss for $350 million in cash and stock. VeriFone leapt 10% following the technology provider's announcement of a $793 million agreement to acquire Lipman Electronics Engineering, an electronic payment system provider. Finally, just two weeks after it withdrew a proposal rejected by the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq announced Tuesday that it has purchased nearly a 15% holding in the exchange at an approximate 24% premium to its original offer. Shares of Nasdaq traded up as much as 8.8% that day before dropping back to a 1.3% gain. It ended with a 2.6% rise for the week.

6. False. In hearings before banking regulators last week, Wal-Mart contended that its pending application for an industrial bank charter in Utah and federal deposit insurance is intended only to assist its back-office operations. In a separate development, the world's largest retailer announced Friday that it will stop selling guns in about one-third of its U.S. stores because of a lack of demand. Query -- if you consider yourself a socially responsible investor, are you cheered by this news or dismayed by the basis of the decision?

7. (b), (d). The Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges against 13 individuals, including an analyst at Goldman and an analyst at Merrill, in what it alleges to be one of the most extensive insider-trading cases in decades. The cast of characters also includes strippers, a retired Croatian seamstress, and a forklift driver all enlisted in an effort to obtain inside knowledge of pending mergers and acquisitions. Both firms say they are cooperating fully with the investigation.

8. True. The UnitedStates Oil Fund, managed by Victoria Bay Asset Management, began trading last Monday as the first U.S. exchange-traded fund designed to track oil prices. This is sticky stuff -- while the price of crude rose more than $1, the fund closed its first day of trading down almost 1%. For the week, the fund rose 0.8%. Like any wise Fool, read the prospectus as you would for any prospective investment before barreling in.

9. (d). The only news coming out of first-quarter earnings from the newspaper industry was more of the same stale headlines --declining advertising dollars taking their toll on profits. McClatchy's profits fell 14%, while New York Times suffered a 69% decline, in part because of job-cut related costs, and Tribune reported a 28% decline.

10. True. According to the "DealBook" column published in The New York Times, the Donald garnered 87 mentions during the year ended April 9, while his next-closest competitor, Ronald Perelman, drew a mere 43. One can only wonder what Trump's newest offspring, the young Barron, may garner someday.

Scoring

• 8-10 correct: Foolishly impressive.
• 6-7 correct: Almost Foolish.
• 1-5 correct: OK, but just barely.
• 0 correct: Really?! Keep reading the Fool, and watch your scores improve!

JPMorgan Chase, Merck, and Bank of America are all Motley Fool Income Investor recommendations. Pfizer, Intel, and Coca-Cola are Motley Fool Inside Value picks, and eBay is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor selection. Take your favorite Foolish investing service for a free, 30-day trial run.

Fool contributor S.J. Caplan, a former vice president and assistant general counsel of Goldman Sachs and former vice president and derivative finance specialist at Lehman Brothers, owns shares of Goldman Sachs Group and Google. She serves as an arbitrator for the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD. The Fool has a disclosure policy.