improvement from weekly jobless numbers and retail sales reports. earnings from kraft and linkedin are also on deck. gold futures are pushed another record high. some traders in a report said three former fed directors said the central bank should consider a new round of economic stimulus to resurrect some optimism. the big driver came from the tech sector with research in motion leading the way after unveiling two new touch screen blackberry smartphones. mastercard got a boost and media companies comcast, the owner of this network, time warner, and cbs also beat the street s earnings estimates. activision blizzard did well due to its call of duty game. facebook will give advertisers more access. finally, what do bill gates, steve jobs, and mark zuckerberg all have in common?