Consumer Confidence: The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index continues to rebound from the trauma caused by the government shutdown, climbing a big 4 points to -33.9 last week. The results can range from 100, indicating every participant in the survey had a positive response to all three components, to minus 100, signaling all views were negative. The index has gained at least 4 points just 78 times out of more than 1,400 weeks since 1985, the year the index was created, and the advance is in part due to better-than-expected jobs and GDP reports last week.
Everyone loves Yellen: On Thursday, investors give Janet Yellen a thumbs-up in her Senate testimony, as she left out little doubt that the Fed's monetary stimulus and easy money policy would continue, sending the Dow and S&P to new record highs. As noted by the chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management, "Yellen's comments would lead the market to have less expectations of a December taper, which seemed to be building for a while." Home builders were the subject of much of the rally as investors bet that continued bond buying will keep a lid on mortgage rates.
Geithner's new job: Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner becomes president and managing director at Warburg Pincus, a firm engaged in buying and selling companies. Timothy had previously spent virtually his entire career working for the government. During his tenure as Treasury Secretary, he constructed the government's response to the financial crisis and was widely associated with the TARP bank rescue.
Playstation 4: Over 1 million PlayStation 4's were sold in the first 24 hours after the game console was released early Friday. The new PlayStation is Sony's first game system in seven years and includes new social features, streaming video apps and a touch pad on the controller. Sony expects to sell 5 million PlayStation 4's by the end of March.