Investors continued to monitor debt talks in Europe last week, but it was all about jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent in September as 103,000 jobs were created. Business services and health care saw the biggest gains. African-American unemployment fell to 16 percent, while black teen unemployment declined to 44.2 percent—remaining the highest of any group. In the week ahead, we kick off the third quarter earnings season with reports from Pepsico, JP Morgan and Google. We also expect quite a few economic reports.

We will gain insight on trade with the August international trade report. In July, the trade deficit by 13 percent to 44.8 billion dollars—the biggest monthly decline since February 2009. Exports rose nearly 4 percent due to record shipments to South and Central America.

We will get a read on consumers with September retail sales report, which tracks food, clothing and auto sales. In August, retail sales were unchanged from the previous month as the budget debate in Washington put a damper on consumer confidence and ultimately spending.

Speaking of confidence, we will get a preliminary read on consumer sentiment for October. In September, sentiment improved to a 59.4 reading as pessimism eased a bit as fewer consumers were concerned about inflation. Consumer sentiments is a gauge of consumer spending.

And that is your CNBC market look ahead for The Grio.com