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The week's top news and analysis, Dec. 24-28
Virtually any investor looking for an excuse to turn negative on the markets would have found it during this intraholiday week: Geopolitical instability? Check. Rocketing fuel costs? Check. Bad news on the housing market? Check. All that, of course, was piled atop a mound of worries about inflation, recession, stagflation, consumers' mood, corporate earnings, banking write-downs and (distressingly) more.