1. Awful December jobs report still haunting markets
Dude, where are my jobs? The god-awful employment report was ripe in investors' minds Monday, driving the market sell-off. According to Goldman Sachs, the number of workers stuck at home because of the winter apocalypse weather was more than 130,000 more than usual in December. Still, 74,000 new workers in a month is bad.
Why does the employment number matter? Markets had enjoyed an average of more than 190,000 new jobs added since September. Suddenly we're served this big potato in December. A strong employment base is crucial for the American economy, since most dollars spent in this country are from consumers. If consumers aren't making money, it's a major threat for long-term corporate profits.
But the Federal Reserve said the economy was improving, right? That's why this was so scary. The Federal Reserve already moved in December to reduce stimulus, since the economy seems to be progressing well. Investors were still audibly and nervously gulping on Monday in remembrance of the very bad employment report from last week.
It's getting hot in here, because Google (GOOGL 9.47%) just dropped $3.2 billion in cash for Nest -- the company behind the cool digital thermostat maker that your friends with technology-savvy parents own.
Thanks for the heads-up. Yoga-pants giant Lululemon (LULU 1.80%) warned investors ahead of time that its earnings report is not going to look good, cutting its revenue expectations from the last quarter of 2013 from $541 million to $518 million -- and the stock dropped nearly 17% for its worst day since last June.
- Retail sales numbers
- Earnings: JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo