Maybe it is just a sign of age or the fact that I try to listen to the economic ramblings of the Federal Reserve, but I’m getting confused.

There have been a lot of articles dealing with use of corporate free cash flow lately

I appreciate Steve Randy Waldman, who writes the excellent blog Interfluidity.

How good are things? Judging by the financial markets, happy days are indeed here again

Normally the State of the Union Address would be the focal point for the week's events.  In a general sense this is still true, but our focus in this weekly series is much narrower:  What will influence markets?