Investors to examine Federal Reserve trends

This week, the market will look at economic data, trying to determine how much the economy is slowing. Many investors are anxious to see Friday's unemployment report. Economists are predicting the unemployment rate will increase slightly to 4 percent from October's 3.9 percent, according to a survey by Briefing.com.\nIn related news, the Federal Reserve, which engineered the economic slowdown with a series of interest rate increases, announced at its last meeting that a tight labor market is a large threat to inflation. Many on Wall Street are hoping that the Federal Reserve, which meets Dec. 19, will change its interest rate bias to neutral.\n"All eyes are on the Fed," Alan Ackerman, market strategist for Fahnestock & Co. told CNBC. "My best guess is they will move to a neutral bias."\nLast Week\nThe markets finished the week mixed Friday, with the Nasdaq ending the day higher and the Dow losing ground. At one point Friday, both markets were holding onto gains of more than 100 points. Late selling then hit both markets and erased most of the early gains. The Nasdaq closed up 47.36 points at 2645.29 and finished the week down 8.9 percent.The Dow ended the day down 40.95 closing at 10373.54. For the week, the Dow lost 97 points.\nStock News\nComputer maker Gateway announced Nov. 29 that, "considerably weaker-than-expected" personal computer sales would hurt the company's fourth-quarter earnings. The company expects to report earnings of 37 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting the company to report earnings of 62 cents a share, according to First Call. Gateway, which started the week at over $30 a share, ended the week slightly more than $19.\nPepsiCo. Inc. is again in talks to acquire Quaker Oats Co., according to Reuters. Last month, Pepsi made a bid for the company that was not accepted. Coca-Cola then began talks with Quaker, but Coke's board of directors did not approve a deal. Now it appears Pepsi might be making the same offer it made nearly a month ago for Quaker, according to The Wall Street Journal. Pepsi is interested in acquiring the company to gain an upper-hand in the noncarbonated drink area -- a market in which Quaker's Gatorade controls more than 80 percent.\nFinal Note\nThe Nasdaq hit a new low for the year Thursday and is down nearly 50 percent from its March 10 high. Many tech companies have been warning of slowing earnings, and investors appear to be re-evaluating their technology valuations.