Take a look around you, look nothing’s what it seems,
We’re living in a broken home of hopes and dreams,
Let me be the first to shake a helping hand.
Everybody, pray enough to take a stand,
I knocked on every door, on every dead end street,
Looking for forgiveness,
What’s left to believe?
Oh, if there’s one thing I hang on to,
It gets me through the night. Read more about J2 Communications: Have a Nice Day
Despite last week’s little rally, April showers have dampened market. While it didn’t build into a torrential downpour, it steadily showered investors with worse-than-expected economic data, including last week’s dreadful Durable Goods Report (-4.2% compared to last month’s +1.9%), continued but minor increases in initial jobless claims throughout April, and a disappointing initial Q1 estimate of GDP (+2.2% compared the previous quarter’s +3.0%). 
Investors seemed to have regained their collective mojo, powering the S&P 500 Index (SPX) back up to the 1400 mark for the first time in three weeks. The upward move by SPX was fueled mostly by better-than-expected first quarter earnings, which increased the bottom line for the benchmark index by 1.8% on the week. 
