Sunday, March 12, 2006

Weekly Outlook

Click here for The Week Ahead by Reuters

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

Economic reports for the week include:

Mon. - None of note
Tues. - Current Account Deficit, Advance Retail Sales, Business Inventories
Wed. - Import Price Index, Empire Manufacturing, Net Foreign Security Purchases, NAHB Housing Market Index, Fed’s Beige Book
Thur. - Consumer Price Index, Housing Starts, Building Permits, Initial Jobless Claims, Philly Fed
Fri. - Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization, Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence

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

Mon. - Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG), Sonus Networks(SONS), Vail Resorts(MTN)
Tues. - Goldman Sachs(GS), Lexar Media(LEXR), Pride Intl.(PDE), Southern Union(SUG)
Wed. - AES Corp.(AES), Anteon Intl.(ANT), Beverly Enterprises(BEV), Comverse Tech(CMVT), EchoStar Communications(DISH), Gymboree Corp.(GYMB), HOT Topic(HOTT), Lehman Brothers(LEH), Medicis Pharmaceuticals(MRX), Navistar Intl.(NAV), Ross Stores(ROST), Sears Holdings(SHLD), Titanium Metals(TIE)
Thur. - American Intl. Group(AIG), Barnes & Noble(BKS), Bear Stearns(BSC), Borders Group(BGP), Cintas Corp.(CTAS), Dresser-Rand(DRC), Leap Wireless(LEAP), Patterson-UTI(PTEN), Tektronix(TEK), US Cellular(USM)
Fri. - Tekelec(TKLC), Terex Corp.(TEX)

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

Mon. - Deutsche Bank Tech Conference, CSFB Global Services Conference, JP Morgan Internet Conference
Tue. - Deutsche Bank Tech Conference, AG Edwards Energy Conference, Citigroup Small/Mid-cap Conference, JP Morgan Internet Conference, Banc of America Consumer Conference, CSFB Global Services Conference
Wed. - Deutsche Bank Tech Conference, Banc of America Consumer Conference, Citigroup Small/Mid-cap Conference, AG Edwards Energy Conference, CSFB Global Services Conference, Morgan Stanley Global Electricity/Energy Conference
Thur. - Banc of America Consumer Conference, Citigroup Small/Mid-cap Conference
Fri. - None of note

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week modestly higher on decelerating inflation readings, short-covering, bargain-hunting, lower long-term rates and falling energy prices. My trading indicators are now giving mostly bearish signals and the Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week.

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