What we need right now is earnings growth, and some sort of weakness in the retail sector is a threat to that.

The market is looking forward to signs of accelerating profit growth, which could add potential to stocks.

Earnings are in good shape, but the outlook is cloudy.

The absence of bad news is one trigger for the rather good performance at the moment, but there is virtually no liquidity.

The oil price is still at a high level. It is definitely still an issue, especially in industries that have higher energy costs.

I think it will be a positive year for earnings but there are risks that the velocity will come down a little bit.