U.S. stock indexes look to Washington for direction

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks are headed to an uncertain Monday, with investors looking for a weekend resolution to the Bush administration's rescue plan for Wall Street even as another major bank failure fueled worries of more collapses to come.
"Traders will probably trade small with the high drama in Washington going on. If we finally do get an agreement, the market will get the lift but it won't last more than a day before the reality of the poor economic backdrop and the upcoming earnings season comes into focus," said Elliot Spar, option-market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU:Dow Jones Industrial Average
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Last: 11,143.13+121.07+1.10%

4:13pm 09/26/2008

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$INDU 11,143.13, +121.07, +1.1%) ended higher for a second consecutive day, rising 118.20 points to 11,140.26 on hopes that Congress will come to an agreement on the rescue plan this weekend. The blue-chip index fell 2% for the week.