Wall Street hopes consumers are spending

This week on Wall Street, investors will find out if consumers’ worries about housing, jobs and rising prices are affecting their spending — and, in turn, posing a further threat to the economy.
The market begins Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average back below 11,900 and having closed at its lowest level since October 2006. Stocks were battered last week by another round of bad news about the economy and the staggering credit market.
This week will have to bring milder readings on the economy, as well as positive signals from the credit markets and corporate America, for investors to regain any confidence. Stocks are at bargain-basement prices — the question is whether investors will find reason to overcome their fears and start taking advantage of them.
The Commerce Department on Thursday releases its February retail sales report. After some mixed monthly sales figures last week from individual retailers, economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR are expecting, on average, retail sales to have edged up by 0.2 percent after a 0.3 percent rise in January.

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