Target Breach Also Hits Neiman Marcus - Gas Prices Lower in 2013

The Target breach of credit cards and debit cards has reached 110 million customers across the nation with personal information - including names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses being hacked. It was reported today that it was not only Target, but it is now known that Neiman Marcus customers and other retailers have been hacked. It is suspected that the ring leaders are from Eastern Europe, where most of the big cyber crimes have originated in the past decade.

The national average price for a regular gallon of gasoline stands at $3.31 and is down from the average of $3.49 in 2013. Colder weather, reduced driving, peak processing at refineries and big gas inventories continue to keep prices low. The $3.31 is up from $3.26 from three weeks ago.

Corporate earnings season kicked off last week and this week will see a bevy of reports from the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. The U.S. Stock markets begin the week slightly lower as investors look at prices that are just near all-time highs and the feeling is that earnings may disappoint. The closely watched S&P 500 Index was up 30% in 2013 and it will be hard for that index to have another year with such lofty gains.