Asian and Pacific markets were mixed but mostly lower on Monday ahead of what's expected to be a volatile but shortened holiday week, thanks to a slew of economic reports, reported CNN.
Tokyo's Nikkei average was up 1.1 percent in afternoon trading, despite discouraging economic news from the Bank of Japan.
"Japan's economic conditions have been deteriorating," the BOJ said in a report released Monday. "Exports have decreased. Corporate profits have continued to decrease, and business sentiment has also deteriorated."
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia's All Ordinaries index closed down 0.8 percent. In Seoul, the KOSPI slipped 0.5 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.7 percent.
Wall Street was mixed on Friday. The Dow lost a third of a percent to end the week, while the NASDAQ gained about three-quarters of a percent and the Standard and Poor's 500 gained 0.3 percent.
Stocks capped the rocky week as investors digested the Bush Administration's $13.4 billion auto bailout. The major indexes seesawed all week amid another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and dismal financial reports from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
In Europe, all of the major markets finished the week on the downside. Both London and Frankfurt lost about a percent, while Paris was down a quarter points.
The days before Christmas bring U.S. reports on housing, the GDP, personal income and spending, and the latest reading on initial unemployment claims.
Trading could also be volatile with many investors out for the Christmas holiday. U.S. markets will close early Wednesday and will remain closed on Thursday.
Swings in the market are often amplified when fewer market participants are present. So even a modest amount of buying could turn into a more substantial rally.
"We could rally (this) week just because no one's here," said Dave Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Canaccord Adams in New York.
And the market could find some short-term support "from a relief standpoint," said Abigail Doolittle, a portfolio manager at Johnson Illington Advisors, which has nearly $700 million in assets under management.
Doolittle said the government's support of the auto industry and optimism about President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plans may buoy the market.
But given the outlook for first-quarter corporate results, a long-term rebound is unlikely, said Rovelli.
Indeed, fourth-quarter earnings per share for the companies in the S&P 500 are forecast to decline more than 10 percent, according to estimates from Thomson Financial.