Monday, May 16, 2005

Weekly Outlook

There are some important economic reports and a few significant corporate earnings reports scheduled for release this week.

Economic reports for the week include:

Mon. - Empire Manufacturing, Net Foreign Security Purchases, NAHB Housing Market Index
Tues. - Producer Price Index, Housing Starts, Industrial Production
Wed. - Consumer Price Index
Thur. - Initial Jobless Claims, Leading Indicators, Philly Fed.
Fri. - None of note

Some of the more noteworthy companies that release quarterly earnings this week are:

Mon. - Agilent(A), BMC Software(BMC), Lowe's(LOW), Limited Brands(LTD)
Tues. - Applied Materials(AMAT), Barnes & Noble(BKS), Deere & Co.(DE), Dick's Sporting Goods(DKS), Hewlett-Packard(HPQ), Home Depot(HD), JC Penney(JCP), Nordstrom(JWN), Sears Holdings(SHLD), Staples Inc.(SPLS)
Wed. - Intuit(INTU)
Thur. - Ann Taylor(ANN), Aeropostale(ARO), Gap Inc.(GPS), Marvell Technology(MRVL)
Fri. - None of note

Other events that have market-moving potential this week include:

Mon. - American Society of Clinical Oncology, JP Morgan Tech Conference, Thomas Weisel Internet Conference
Tue. - American Society of Clinical Oncology, Thomas Weisel Internet Conference, JP Moran Tech Conference, Goldman Sachs Basic Materials Conference, Banc of America Healthcare Conference
Wed. - Banc of American Healthcare Conference, JP Morgan Tech Conference
Thur. - Semi Book-to-Bill, Fed's Guynn speaks, Fed's Olson speaks, Fed's Greenspan speaks, JP Morgan Tech Conference
Fri. - None of note

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week modestly higher on short-covering, good earnings reports, better inflation readings and bargain-hunting. My trading indicators are still giving neutral signals and the Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week. I will resume full blogging on Wednesday.

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