Besides monitoring the European Debt Crisis, there were quite a few economic reports for investors to digest last week… Five Banks agreed to provide $25 billion in relief to homeowners for foreclose abuses…consumer credit rose by more than $19 billion in December as credit card use surged…And new claims for jobless benefits fell by 15,000 to 385,000, the second lowest level since April 2008 —signaling a stronger labor market..In the week ahead…investors expect data on small business, housing and inflation…

We’ll check the pulse of small business with the January survey from the NFIB. In December small business optimism rose nearly two points to a 93.8 reading, marking four straight months of improvement as businesses were more confident on their sales outlook.

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We’ll gain insight on housing with the January housing starts report…In December new construction declined 4.1 percent — led by a slow down in multi-family units, but building permits — a gauge of future building activity — held relatively steady…

We’ll get a read on inflation with the January consumer price index report — which tracks price changes for food, clothes and energy — In December consumer prices were unchanged from the previous month due to lower energy costs.

And that’s you CNBC Market Look Ahead for theGrio.com… I’m Shartia Brantley.