Market Wrap-Up

The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced another week characterized by fits and starts. During each of the last five trading sessions that benchmark swung through a wide point range as traders digested a series of events, from Capitol Hill testimony and chief executive resignations to the possible demise of Detroit and the downward spiral of Citigroup (C), one of the biggest financial companies on the planet. It wasn't until late Friday afternoon -- when the new presidential administration named Timothy Geithner its nominee for Treasury secretary -- that stocks rallied and managed to hang on to those gains. The Dow ended Friday up a whopping 494 points to 8,046, putting the benchmark over the 8,000 level once again. But for the week it was down 448 points.

The week opened with the heads of the Big Three auto makers trying to sell Capitol Hill on a $25 billion bailout plan for their companies. They weren't that convincing. The executives were short on answers about how they'd get their companies back on track. Congress balked at helping them out, instead putting off a decision until December when the companies will hand over a plan to Congress outlining how they will get out of this hole. General Motors (GM) shares sank under $3 a share, putting its market capitalization at a paltry $1.7 billion.

As the weekend approached, Citigroup took over the spotlight. Its shares have slumped as the company has been hammered on several fronts. Investors are concerned about the troubled assets that still sit on its books and there seems to be a crisis of confidence in the company's management. Financial stocks like Citi were one of the main culprits that put down many of the rallies that tried to get started this week.

The economy also played a major part in trading the last five sessions. The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee, the body that sets key interest rates, released the minutes of its last meeting. The notes revealed the committee had pushed back its estimates for decent economic growth well into 2011. It also increased its estimates for unemployment and raised an early red flag about deflation. FOMC's concern about unemployment was reiterated by Department of Labor figures recently released. Weekly jobless claims hit 542,000.

There was also plenty of corporate news. Yahoo (YHOO) announced its chief executive officer, Jerry Yang, whose tenure has been characterized by an all-out battle with Microsoft (MSFT), would step down from that position. No successor has been named.

Crude continued to fall in value this week. The price of a barrel of oil has been sliding in lockstep with the broader market. It finished the week at the $50 level after opening Monday at around $57.

Winners

Bears continued to make money betting on the downturn in the financial sector. The ProShares UltraShort Financials ETF (SKF) gained a whopping 60.5% this week. This fund, which bets on the falling share price of financial stocks, had a good week due to the fall in Citi stock.

Losers

The selloff in solar ETFs continued this week. Solar firms had been falling along with the price of oil. But this week there were other factors at play. A key solar company, SunTech Power Holdings (STP) slashed its guidance due to the impact of the credit crisis on its business and the weakening euro. From an industry stand point, there is speculation that sweet government subsidies may be cut back in the near future. That would make solar projects less economical. The Market Vectors Solar Energy (KWT) and the Claymore/Mac Global Solar Energy (TAN) ETFs lost 29.8% and 29.2%, respectively.

This Week's Industry Headlines

Data Point
From the folks at Index Universe came a story about how Financial Research Corporation is estimating ETFs will account for a larger share of the fund world than index offerings by 2012.

Launching Pad
RevenueShares began trading its ADR Fund ETF. The fund weights the companies in the S&P ADR index by revenue numbers. It charges an annual expense ration of .49%. Invesco PowerShares began trading PowerShares Active U.S. Real Estate on the NYSE Arca exchange. Last week Northern Trust started trading the Nets FTSE CNBC Global 300 fund. This ETF tracks an index of the 15 largest companies from 18 sectors along with the 30 largest firms from certain emerging markets. It charges an annual expense ratio of 0.43%.

Next Week's Notebook

President-elect Barack Obama will announce his economic team Monday. Also, keep an eye on any news coming out of Citigroup.

Earnings & Conference Calls

Monday
Analog Devices, Campbell Soup, Donaldson, Hewlett-Packard, Skillsoft, Valspar

Tuesday
American Eagle Outfitters, American Woodmark, Border Group, Brown Shoe, Charming Shoppes, Chico's FAS, Coldwater Creek, D.R. Horton, Daktronics, Dollar tree, Hormel, J. Crew, Talbots, Vimpel Communications, Zale

Wednesday
Deere & Co., Fred's, Tiffany

Thursday
Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday
Frontline, Texas Industries

Economic Data

Monday
10:00a.m. Oct. Existing Home Sales

Tuesday
7:45a.m. ICSC Chain Store Sales
8:30a.m. 3Q Preliminary GDP
8:30a.m. 3Q Preliminary Corporate Profits
8:55a.m. Redbook Retail Sales Index
9:00a.m. Sept. S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index
10:00a.m. Nov. Conference Board Consumer Confidence
10:00a.m. Nov. Richmond Fed Mfg. Survey
10:30a.m. Nov. Dallas Fed Mfg Production Index

Wednesday
8:30a.m. Initial Jobless Claims
8:30a.m. Oct. Personal Income
8:30a.m. Oct. Personal Spending
8:30a.m. Oct. Durable Goods Orders
9:45a.m. Nov. Chicago PMI: Previous
10:00a.m. End-Nov. Reuters/Univ. of Michigan Sentiment Index
10:00a.m. Sept. New Home Sales
10:00a.m. DJ-BTMU Business Barometer

Thursday
Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday
No major releases scheduled.

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Friday.