Stock Market: Looking Forward to Next Week !

The pullback came Friday, and the selling pressure was definitely intense. The Dow dropped 166 points, their worst one-day  loss since November.

Whether the losses will be short-lived is not yet clear. The answer will emerge as events unfold in Egypt, where political unrest appeared to intensify over the weekend. That, in turn, sending Dubai's benchmark index down 4.3% on Sunday. It also led to lower opens Monday for stocks in  Asia and Australia and New Zealand and pushed crude oil above $90 a barrel in electronic trading. The dollar also moved higher.

In addition to the Middle Eastern turmoil, U.S. investors will have to consider another big week of earnings this week, including XOM, BP, PFE, and UPS. There are important economic reports. The biggest is the January jobs and employment release before Friday's open. 

Futures trading Sunday evening suggested a lower open for US stock market as well as a low open for European stocks.

If you want something to make you think there's some strength in the market, look at AMZN and MSFT. They were off 9.5% and 4.9%, respectively, as their lows on Friday. Amazon.com ended at $171.14, off 7.2%;  Microsoft closed at $27.75, off 3.9%.