Another week, same story
It was a slow week with respect to economic news, but it would have taken the combined force of an FOMC announcement, a Greenspan speech and an employment report to keep investors from focusing on corporate fundamentals this week. Investors are concerned about the credibility of earnings and accounting statements - which until now were assumed to be legitimate.

It will take more than a few good earnings announcements to get investors interested in equities with any degree of confidence. Economic news will be more abundant next week, but the reports will have to be particularly newsworthy to get investors excited and more hopeful.

Flight to quality?
Altogether, the movement in bond prices (and yields) was relatively minor this week, particularly in light of 5- and 10-year note auctions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yields were down a few basis points from last week's close for all bonds. To some extent, the rise in prices and drop in yields reflect a flight to quality as investors ditched the equity market. Others factors contributing to investor uneasiness were terrorist concerns at the Olympic games, which begin today in Salt Lake City, and the outcome of the G-7 meeting this weekend in Ottawa. Yields could easily head back up in the next couple of weeks if economic indicators show more convincing signs of improvement.