On the penultimate trading day of the week markets wavered a bit before ending the day up marginally. Today marked the 3rd straight day of gains.  Oil finished down 9 cents, closing at $34.57 a barrel. Investors are also keeping their eyes on tomorrow’s Labor Department jobs report which is due Friday morning.  Reuters conducted a poll of the nation’s leading economists who say they expect jobs in the U.S. to have increased by 190,000 this past February. 151,000 jobs were added in January of this year.  Today the Labor Department reported productivity decreased 2.2 percent in non-farm business in the last quarter of 2015, while costs increased 3.3 percent.  Manufacturing productivity actually went down  0.7 percent as costs increased 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, high-profile author and Yale University lecturer Vikram Mansharamani, told CNBC today that financial bubbles are bursting everywhere and it all started with China. See more below.

Here are the final numbers from Thursday, 3/3/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,943.90 (+44.58 / +0.26 %)

NASDAQ: 4,707.42  (+4.00 / +0.09 %)

S&P 500: 1,993.40  (+6.95 / +0.35 %)

The Federal Reserve released its most recent “Beige Book” today. The summary on current economic conditions by the Fed indicated that “economic activity has increased in most regions & consumer spending rose in most districts.”

The business activity snapshot further complicates the Federal Open Market Committee’s process of determining whether or not to raises interest rates again this year.  The prevailing thought is the Fed might consider taking on an additional rate hike this year.

As CNBC put it:

“As markets dipped and recession fears grew, the chance of the next Fed rate hike at one point was pushed into early 2018. However, that has reversed significantly over the past few days.”

See more below.

The markets also got a boost from another rise in the price of oil.  Crude finished up 26 cents, or 0.76 percent, at $34.66 a barrel- it’s best close since January 5th.

After yesterday’s big gains many expected the markets to drop today. USB’s Art Cashin explains why that didn’t happen.

Here are the final numbers from Wednesday, 3/2/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,899.32 (+34.24 / +0.20 %)

NASDAQ: 4,703.42  (+13.83 / +0.29 %)

S&P 500: 1,986.45  (+8.10 / +0.41 %)

“Super Tuesday” was truly a super Tuesday on Wall Street as the markets had big gains. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 348 points, while the The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 46 points and the NASDAQ composite rose 131 points. The recent stock market gains and positive economic data have investors feeling like the Fed might consider raising interest rates again this year. Watch more from CNBC below.

Here are the final numbers from Tuesday, 3/1/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,865.50 (+348 / +2.10 %)

NASDAQ: 4,689.95 (+131.52 / +2.90 %)

S&P 500: 1,978.23 (+46.02 / +2.4 %)

On this “leap day” February 29, 2016 markets did not get the positive jump they were hoping for on this first day of the new trading week.  Bucking what has been the recent trend of “low oil equals low markets,” Wall Street suffered losses despite the fact that oil saw a rise in price of a barrel of crude.  Oil closed up 97 cents, or 3% percent, at $33.75 a barrel.  The Dow Jones industrial average briefly fell more than 100 points with Home Depot and UnitedHealth the biggest losers. In losing 32 points today the NASDAQ has now suffered it’s first 3 month losing streak since 2011.

Meantime, former U.S. Republican congressman and two-time GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul told CNBC this weekend that the Federal Reserve has been propping up markets, and the U.S. economy has already entered a recession which is going to get worse. Watch below.

Here are the final numbers from Monday, 2/29/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,516.50 (-123.47 / -0.74 %)

NASDAQ: 4,557.95  (-32.52 / -0.71 %)

S&P 500: 1,932.23  (-15.82 / -0.81 %)

On a day when NJ Governor Chris Christie officially endorsed Donald Trump as the Republican Presidential nominee, markets struggled to gain any ground. The markets finished mixed on Friday but up for the week.  There was continued concern about the solvency of Puerto Rico after the island’s governor said he wants Congress to grant Puerto Rico Chapter 9 bankruptcy rights. According to money.cnn.com:

All 50 states have bankruptcy rights, but not Puerto Rico. It wouldn’t allow the island to declare bankruptcy, but it would enable cities and other municipal entities to do so. It’s the law Detroit used when it filed for bankruptcy in 2013. Under Chapter 9, a municipality has to show that it is close to broke and can’t pay its debt, and the bankruptcy court then allows it to reorganize. Puerto Rico says it will run out of money by this summer. It has already defaulted twice. The country’s economy is shrinking, and its population has dwindled by 440,000 in the past decade, making it even more difficult to generate enough tax revenue to pay the debt.

The other big news today was word that Wall Street has started cutting back on it’s outlook for growth this year.

See what CNBC’s “Squawk Box” had to say about it.

Here are the final numbers from Friday, 2/26/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,639.97 (-57.32 / -0.34 %)

NASDAQ: 4,590.47  (+8.27 / +0.18 %)

S&P 500: 1,948.05  (-3.65 / -0.19 %)

Another increase in the price of oil helped the market rebound from yesterday’s losses. Oil recovered from a sharp overnight decline to settle up 28 cents, or 0.88 percent, at $32.15 a barrel.

Compounding global economic concerns, however is the fact that the British pound is feeling pressure over whether the nation should remain in the European Union. The British currency is hovering at seven year lows against the dollar as investors try to hedge bets ahead of the upcoming vote on whether Britain should remain in the European Union. The currency fell to $1.3987, the lowest level since March 2009. The pound first began to drop after London Mayor Boris Johnson announced over the weekend that he would join the campaign to leave the EU.

Meantime, Voya Investment Management‘s Karyn Cavanaugh says the market won’t bottom-out until professional fund managers begin under-weighting stocks.

Watch below.

Here are the final numbers from Wednesday, 2/24/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,484.99 (+53.21 / +0.32 %)

NASDAQ: 4,542.61  (+39.02 / +0.87 %)

S&P 500: 1,929.80  (+8.53 / +0.44 %)

Poorly performing energy stocks and a significant drop in the price of oil made for a down day on Wall Street. U.S. crude oil dropped $1.52, or a fraction over 4.5% percent to finish the day at $31.87 a barrel. The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index fell to 92.2 in February, down from 97.8 in January. The Conference Board is an independent research organization that that serves as source of economic and business knowledge to help companies understand and deal with the most critical issues of our time.

Among the most critical issues the U.S. economy is facing today:

• Severe market volatility
• Plummeting oil prices
• China’s failing economy
• Prospect of negative interest rates.

BTIG Chief Technical Strategist Katie Stockton said-

“Our indicators suggest that the relief rally still has a hold on the market, but we expect overbought “sell” signals to unfold by Friday. With this in mind, we would consider taking down exposure into additional strength”

AS oil prices drop and fluctuate, who are the winners & losers?  Watch below.

Here are the final numbers from Tuesday, 2/23/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,431.78 (-188.88 / -1.14 %)

NASDAQ: 4,503.58  (-67.02 / -1.47 %)

S&P 500: 1,921.27  (-24.23 / -1.25 %)

After experiencing the first positive week of the year last week, the markets opened the first session of the new week today on an up note. The good day on Wall Street was led by the Dow, which at one point was up over 250 points. Shares of United Technologies spiked more than 6.5 percent following a CNBC report that United Technologies and Honeywell have been talking about a merger. The markets were driven by an increase in the price of oil which closed at $31.48 a barrel- up over 6% for the day.

But not everyone was optimistic as a CNBC report looked at two more signs that a recession could be coming. Watch below.

Here are the final numbers from Monday, 2/22/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,620.66 (+228.67 / +1.39 %)

NASDAQ: 4,570.61  (+66.18 / +1.47 %)

S&P 500: 1,945.50  (+27.72 / +1.45 %)

The last trading day of the week marked a mixed day on Wall Street but for the first time this year volatility was not a major concern, as the market had it’s fist positive week of the year.   All U.S. markets were up between 2.5% and 3.8% this week. The price of oil seems to have leveled off although it closed down today 3.7% to $29.64 a barrel. Read more here.

Meanwhile, the city of Philadelphia was a big topic today on CNBC in a headline:

“The American City with a $5.7 billion dollar Pension Crisis.”

In an interview with CNBC Rob Dubow– Director of Finance for the City of Philadelphia and chairman of the city’s pension fund board talked about the major shortcomings in Philly’s pension system. The fund has less than half what it needs for the retirement funds of 64,000 current and former Philadelphia employees. The $5.7 billion dollar funding shortfall makes the Philadelphia pension system one of the worst-funded pension funds in the US.

In explaining the Philadelphia pension crisis Dubow told CNBC:

“The unfunded liability is one of the biggest financial challenges we face in Philadelphia and we have to figure out how to manage that. We have a very mature pension fund. We have more retirees than we have active members. That imbalance is a big cause of our problem. Also, we got hit in 2008/2009. The fund lost almost 20% in 2009 in the midst of the financial crisis. We are working aggressively to cut our fees. When we look at managers, we try to get the lowest fees possible. We have gotten rid of managers.”

Read more about the Philly pension crisis here.

Should you be worried about your pension?  See more below.

Here are the final numbers from Friday, 2/19/16 on Wall Street

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,391.65 (-21.78 / -0.13 %)

NASDAQ: 4,504.43  (+16.89 / +0.38 %)

S&P 500: 1,917.78  (-0.05 / -0.00 %)