Stocks Look to Regroup After Brutal Week

U.S. stock markets are open today, but banks and bond markets are closed in observance of Veterans Day.

It's going to be a long and hard claw back for stocks when the market opens. The Dow, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 each lost more than 2% last week -- one of Wall Street's worst weeks this year -- responding in part to the re-election of President Obama and a still-divided Congress and the approaching fiscal cliff.

U.S. stock futures are modestly higher Monday morning, with the S&P 500 is indicating a 3.5-point gain at the open.

The week brings a deluge of data and earnings, and some of them will show early indications of Superstorm Sandy, like retail sales due out on Wednesday and industrial production figures on Friday. Wall Street will also get earnings from Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), among others.

"Skyfall," the 23rd James Bond flick, grossed $87.8 million in domestic ticket sales over the weekend for Sony and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. That's the most ever for the franchise. Internationally, "Skyfall" has grossed $518.6 million. Many studios are starting to release movies internationally first to drum up more buzz and (good) reviews before bringing them to the U.S.

Despite getting rid of sales in favor of everyday low prices -- a strategy that's been slow to win acceptance among shoppers -- J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) is preserving Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. But, instead of mailing out coupons, the retailer is giving out 80 million "buttons," according to USA Today. Each has a code on the back, that when entered on Penney's website, reveals whether a customer has won prizes, like a trip to Disney or a Penney gift card.