The week in review

• DJIA dropped 170.65 or 1.51% to close at 11,109.32
  

• Nasdaq Composite up 26.97 or 1.17% to close the week at 2339.79
  

• S&P 500 lost 8.12, or .62% to close at 1294.83
  

• 10-year Treasury yield rose .184 percentage points and stands at 4.857%
  

• Oil gained another $2.37 this week to 66.63. Ouch.

Strongest first quarter in years. For the first quarter of 2006, the S&P 500 rose 3.7%, its biggest first quarter gain since 1999. The Dow 30, also up 3.7%, showed its best first quarter since 2002 and the Nasdaq Composite shot up 6.1%, its best first period since 2000.

The biggest non-event of the week: The Federal Reserve began the Bernanke era with a quarter-point rate hike, the fifteenth straight for the Fed, putting the target rate at 4.75%. The guvs surprised no one with this and indicated at least one more increase to come in May. Given the Fed's penchant for overshooting neutral, a year from now inflation concerns will be replaced by worries of a stagnant economy and Fed watchers will be looking for a reversal.