Black Beauty: A Recovering Quadruped

NEW YORK (AFX) - The first trading week of the year may be a short one,
but it may help determine whether the stock market's record-breaking run will
continue or melt down in 2007.
The three days will be filled with data on employment, the manufacturing and
service sectors, and sales figures from retailers and automakers. These will
provide clues to Wall Street's big question: Is economic growth still cooling,
or starting to heat up?
During the last trading week of 2006, despite thin holiday trading volumes,
the Dow Jones industrial average rose above 12,500 for the first time after a
promising report on new home sales suggested the economy may be turning around.
If the first week of January brings good news, the Dow could hurtle further into
record territory, extending its fourth-quarter rally.
Hearty economic growth may not line investors' pockets, however, if it leads
the Federal Reserve to believe Americans can withstand an interest rate hike.
Such a move by policy makers has the potential to stop the market's rally
because of fears that higher rates will crimp consumer spending and deal