Earlier this week we looked at what the current "dead cat bounce" meant for the Dow Jones Industrial stock index, but with a strong late Friday rally, Nasdaq Index returns have been even more impressive.

Up nearly 75% since the March 10th trough, the tech laden index spiked up another 1.5% on Friday, to close up almost 950 points since its late winter low...

Last month we predicted that jobs growth would likely begin to return by Christmas. Now Texas data confirms that jobs growth is on the way.

Seasonally adjusted data from the Texas Workforce Commission shows that during October and November, the state's employers added nearly 70,000 jobs. Gains were in categories such as education and health services, hospitality and leisure, professional and business services, and finance. Many of the jobs in October came from government sources, however even private-sector Texas employment began an upward trajectory in November.

FedEx (FDX) reported Thursday that it shipped 1,000,000 more packages than expected on Monday -- which it anticipates will be its peak shipping day this holiday. The firm reported that this year's busiest day is up 17% from its busiest day last year.

FedEx CEO, Fred Smith further observed that their business has now observed a significant "turning point," and that the company will resume some normal human resources benefits that it had suspended for employees in 2009.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve underscored that the U.S. economy is picking up steam but reassured observers that inflation is in check and that it will keep short-term interest rates near zero for an "extended period."

In their statement after the meeting, the members concluded that the US economy has continued to "pick up", that declines in the job market are "abating" and that in general financial conditions "have become more supportive of economic growth."

And what a dead cat bounce it has been so far.

Since March the bull market run has continued swift and steep leaving many in the dust. On Monday the Dow plowed ahead and closed up 3,954 points higher than its low in March.

The majority of US consumers are no longer on the sidelines. On Friday the numbers point to strong retail sales for two months in a row.

Overall US retail sales in November spiked by 1.3% after a healthy 1.1% gain in October. November's increase was well above the consensus estimates breaking above even the most optimistic estimate. Keep in mind that these numbers are significant components of the overall GDP for the US. When annualized they equated to a heady 13.2% increase in October and 15.6% in November.

A lower value of the dollar has continued to improve the competitiveness of U.S. exports. That undoubtedly accentuated the decline in October's trade deficit to $32.9B. The declined followed a September deficit of $35.7, which was revised even lower than initial estimates given last month.

In more good news, exports jumped. It was their sixth month straight month of increase. The latest figure was quite a bit lower than consensus expectations for a deficit of $37.0B.

But perhaps the best news in Thursday's report is that exports are benefiting from healthy demand abroad. Exports were led by a $1.2 billion up tick in capital goods in October followed by gains in demand for consumer goods as well as automobiles.

President Barack Obama pressed forward with his job-creation proposals on Tuesday. Specifics included a hiring tax credit to businesses and other stimulus components. Further, those stimulus programs that he believes have worked best thus far, he would like to extend or amplify.

Thus far the existing stimulus efforts have taken an abysmal rate of 700,000 jobs lost a month earlier in the year and reduced that to a loss rate of almost zero. Obama asserts that in the months to come additional proposals can begin accelerate that improving net rate.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave his views on many topics on Monday afternoon.

Although he remains cautious his conclusions were in line with latest FOMC meeting minutes that calling for a modest recovery in 2010.

President Obama convened a "jobs summit" at the White House Thursday morning. It was likely one of the more brilliant moves of his presidency.

One of the most notable early promises from Obama was that the massive stimulus measure signed into law earlier this year would save or create 3.5M American jobs. The President and the White House have continued to defend that claim vigorously since stimulus spending began.

On Wednesday the Fed released its summary of comments received from its 12 regional districts in the November time-frame. The notes represent a collection of comments from businesses and other contacts outside the Federal Reserve and does not necessarily represent the views of Federal Reserve officials.

The regional reports indicate that economic conditions continue to improve across the U.S. since the last report and in general represent the best economic reports of 2009.

What a difference a few days have made in the mainstream headlines.

Overblown concerns about Dubai defaults are quickly shifting to the shadows. On Tuesday, clarity on the extent of the loan restructuring indicated that Dubai World likely would restructure debt worth $26 billion against earlier talk of a possible $59 billion default.

Retail executives were holding their breath on Friday, looking for indications that the recent recovery would extend into the holiday shopping season. Macy's (M) CEO Terry Lundgren went on the record with the Wall Street Journal Saturday to assert that early indications of both traffic and sales are pointing to "very good signs" for the December shopping season.

Online market reports from Coremetrics showed the average amount online shoppers spent on Friday rose 35% from last year's Black Spending Friday. Top statistics included:

Recent days have seen continued rebounds in housing, corporate profit reports and consumer confidence.

Two reports early this week point to continued progress in residential housing resales. On Monday the National Association of Realtors implied that the home-buyer tax credit will likely sustain the housing market throughout next year. In October, first-time buyers used the tax credit and combined it with record low mortgage rates to push home sales to their highest level in 2 1/2 years. Home sales are now 37 percent above their bottom in January and the seven-month supply of inventory is quite modest. We saw bidding wars break out earlier this year in select areas, but now those competitions are becoming more widespread.

This week saw additional signs that this recovery will be anything but a jobless one.

On Monday the Empire State Manufacturing Survey was released. Amidst a report that shows continued manufacturing growth in the region came this assessment from the document: "Future indexes conveyed an expectation that activity and employment would improve in the months ahead and that both input and selling prices would increase significantly."

Earlier in the week, Lowe's Cos. (LOW) said in the third quarter it saw improved sales in several major big-ticket categories, including major appliances and flooring projects.

Same-store-sales declines for Lowe's progressively moderated as Q3 advanced, with October same-store sales only dropping 5.6%, following a 7.9% decline in September and an 8.7% drop in August. For the full quarter, same-store sales fell 7.5%, an improvement over the second-quarter's 9.5% decline.

On Monday UPS announced that its projections show it will handle more parcel deliveries this holiday season than it did last year. UPS it will deliver about 400 million packages worldwide between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Furthermore, UPS announced that it will hire 50,000 temporary workers to handle the greater volume.

Last week FedEx (FDX) also reported that it anticipates shipping more this year. FedEx said it will hire 14,000 additional part-time and temporary holiday workers.

Rapidly growing neighbors as well as government stimulus programs helped Japan return to growth much more quickly than anyone had expected. Japan's Q3 growth surged sharply at a 4.8% annualized clip. It was Japan's second consecutive quarter of growth -- accelerating from the 2.7% annualized rate of Q2.

The good news for Japan early Monday comes on the heals of solid growth reports from the U.S. and Europe where GDPs have also started expanding again. Japan's report adds additional credibility to the notion that a broad global recovery is solidly under way.

Even though markets were sliding rapidly last year at this time, the stock market indexes have now recovered to the point that year over year gains are quite substantial.

For the Dow Jones industrial average, the one year gain is now 1,773 points, up 21% from a year ago at this time:

In October the number of U.S. properties for which a foreclosure filing was received declined for the third month sequentially according to a RealtyTrac report released on Wednesday. The report is a further indication that foreclosures are beginning to subside and that the housing sector is stabilizing.

According to the report, total foreclosure filings in October dropped 3.3% from September.