Weekly Outlook

Click here for The Week Ahead by Reuters.

Click here for Stocks in Focus for Monday by MarketWatch.com.

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

Economic reports for the week include:

Mon. – Consumer Credit

Tues. – Wholesale Inventories, weekly retail sales reports

Wed. – Weekly EIA energy inventory data, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report

Thur. – Trade Balance, Initial Jobless Claims, ICSC Chain Store Sales, Monthly Budget Statement

Fri. – Import Price Index, Advance Retail Sales, Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence, Business Inventories

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

Mon. – Alcoa Inc.(AA), Schnitzer Steel(SCHN), WD-40(WDFC)

Tues. – Acuity Brands(AYI), Audiovox Corp.(VOXX), Biomet(BMET), Chattem(CHTT), Emmis Communications(EMMS), Greenbrier(GBX), Helen of Troy(HELE), Pepsi Bottling(PBG)

Wed. – AAR Corp.(AIR), Chaparral Steel(CHAP), Genentech(DNA), Resources Connection(RECN), Ruby Tuesday(RT), Wolverine World Wide(WWW), Yum! Brands(YUM)

Thur. – Fastenal(FAST), Fleetwood Enterprices(FLE), M&T Bank(MTB), Marriott(MAR), Progressive Corp.(PGR), Texas Industries(TXI)

Fri. – General Electric(GE)

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

Mon. – (TTWO) Conference Call

Tue. – CE Unterberg Towbin Emerging Growth Conference, CIBC Consumer Growth Conference, Roth Capital Semi Conference, Kaufman Defense Technology Conference

Wed. – The Fed’s Plosser speaking, (LIZ) analyst meeting, (MSFT) financial analyst briefing, CE Unterberg Towbin Emerging Growth Conference, CIBC Consumer Growth Conference

Thur. – The Fed’s Yellen speaking, (MU) analyst conference, Pacific Growth Cardiology Conference, CE Unterberg Towbin Emerging Growth Conference, CIBC Consumer Growth Conference, BMO Capital Media/Comm/Tech Conference

Fri. – None of note

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week modestly higher on lower long-term rates, subsiding terrorism fears, diminished sub-prime concerns, lower energy prices, bargain hunting, better-than-expected earnings reports and short-covering. My trading indicators are now giving mostly bullish signals and the Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.