Sunday, August 03, 2008

Weekly Outlook

Click here for Wall St. Week Ahead by Reuters.

Click here for stocks in focus for Monday by MarketWatch.

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

Economic reports for the week include:

Mon. – Challenger Job Cuts, Personal Income, Personal Spending, PCE Core, Factory Orders

Tues. – ISM Non-Manufacturing, FOMC Rate Decision, weekly retail sales

Wed. – Weekly MBA mortgage applications, weekly EIA energy inventory data

Thur. – Initial Jobless Claims, Pending Home Sales, ICSC Chain Store Sales, Consumer Credit

Fri. – Non-farm Productivity, Unit Labor Costs, Wholesale Inventories

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

Mon. – Disk Network(DISH), IntercontinentalExchange(ICE), Humana(HUM), Pitney Bowes(PBI), Post Properties(PPS), Anadarko Petroleum(APC)

Tues. – Marvel Entertainment(MVL), Emerson Electric(EMR), MGM Mirage(MGM), DR Horton(DHI), Weyerhaeuser(WY), Grubb & Ellis(GBE), Covidien Ltd(COV), Brinker Intl.(EAT), St. Joe(JOE), Archer-Daniels-Midland(ADM), Duke Energy(DUK), News Corp.(NWS/A), Computer Sciences(CSC), Georgia Gulf(GGC), Papa John’s(PZZA), Forest Oil(FST), Whole Foods(WFMI), Vulcan Materials(VMC), Jack in the Box(JBX), Cisco Systems(CSCO), Rowan Cos(RDC), Sotheby’s(BID), Wendy’s(WEN), Priceline.com(PCLN), Vornado Realty(VNO), Procter & Gamble(PG)

Wed. – Transocean(RIG), Freddie Mac(FRE), Marsh & McLennan(MMC), Time Warner(TWX), Sprint Nextel(S), Qwest Communications(Q), Polo Ralph Lauren(RL), Advance Auto Parts(AAP), El Paso Corp.(EP), Devon Energy(DVN), Foster Wheeler(FWLT), Blackstone Group(BX)

Thur. – Warnaco Group(WRC), Blockbuster(BBI), Williams Cos(WMB), Dynegy(DYN), Sara Lee(SLE), California Pizza Kitchen(CPKI), Hansen Natural(HANS), DirectTV(DTV), Dollar Tree(DLTR), Barr Pharma(BRL), Progressive Corp.(PGR), Deckers Outdoor(DECK), Titanium Metals(TIE), Cardinal Health(CAH)

Fri. Beazer Homes(BZH), MBIA(MBI), MicroStrategy(MSTR)

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

Mon. – Pacific Crest Tech Forum

Tue. – BMO Healthcare Conference, RBC Tech/Media/Communications Conference, Pacific Crest Tech Forum

Wed. – (AXP) analyst meeting, (TXT) analyst call, RBC Tech/Media/Communications Conference, BMO Healthcare Conference

Thur. – Bank of America Specialty Pharma Conference, RBC Tech/Media/Communications Conference

Fri. – Bank of America Specialty Pharma Conference

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week modestly higher on less economic pessimism, bargain-hunting, diminishing credit market fear, mostly positive earnings reports, lower energy prices, a firmer US dollar and short-covering. My trading indicators are giving neutral signals and the Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.

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