AAPL, PFE, and Others Report this Week

After quite an eventful week last week, we are in for a bit of a quieter one for economic data. Having said this, we will likely get some excitement from the earnings reports being released this week. Last week saw the market rebound quite well. Intel's results combined with that of Google, and the major banks propelled us back up towards the highs of May. The existing Home sales number coming out on Thursday will be quite important to see if home sales are maybe trending towards a rebound, or at least leveling off.

Jul 20 10:00 AM Leading Indicators Jun
Jul 22 10:30 AM Crude Inventories 07/17
Jul 22 10:35 AM Crude Inventories 07/17
Jul 23 8:30 AM Initial Claims 07/18
Jul 23 10:00 AM Existing Home Sales Jun
Jul 24 9:55 AM Mich Sentiment-Rev Jul


There are way too many stocks reporting this week for me to list, but I'll list a few for each day of the week that I feel could be important market drivers.

Monday:
Halliburton
Texas Instruments

Tuesday:
AMD
Apple
Continental Airlines
The Coca-Cola Company
Yahoo

Wednesday
Altria Group, Inc.
Ebay
Etrade
Eli Lilly
PepsiCo
Pfizer
Piper Jaffray

Thursday
3M
Amazon
AT&T
Baidu
Bristol Myers Squib
Wyeth
Xerox

Friday
Exelon

July Earnings and Economic Data

This has been another, not so good, week in the markets. Having said this, I am still very optimistic. I feel that these drops in the market are just buying opportunities for later in the year and next year. I have been asked, where I thought the DOW would be by the middle of 2011. No one, not even the best economic experts in the World could even venture a good guess at this question. Anything could happen between now and than. I will however say that in 2 years from now, I could see the Dow in the 11,000 - 12,000 range. Now that's almost a 50% gain from today. 25% per year is an amazing return.

Next week is going to be certainly a wild one. We will get a lot of information on the status of the economy. Most importantly, the earnings reports from some of the largest corporations on the planet, including, Google, IBM, Citibank, Bank of America, and many others. In addition to this, we will also get the following economic data released all throughout next week.

Jul 13 2:00 PM Treasury Budget Jun
Jul 14 8:30 AM Core PPI Jun
Jul 14 8:30 AM PPI Jun
Jul 14 8:30 AM Retail Sales Jun
Jul 14 8:30 AM Retail Sales ex-auto
Jul 14 10:00 AM Business Inventories May
Jul 15 8:30 AM Core CPI Jun
Jul 15 8:30 AM CPI Jun
Jul 15 8:30 AM Empire Manufacturing Jul
Jul 15 9:15 AM Capacity Utilization Jun
Jul 15 9:15 AM Industrial Production Jun
Jul 15 10:00 AM Business Inventories May
Jul 15 10:30 AM Crude Inventories 07/10
Jul 15 10:35 AM Crude Inventories 07/10
Jul 15 2:00 PM Minutes of FOMC Meeting June 24
Jul 16 8:30 AM Initial Claims 07/11
Jul 16 9:00 AM Net Long-Term TIC Flows May
Jul 16 10:00 AM Philadelphia Fed Jul
Jul 17 8:30 AM Building Permits Jun
Jul 17 8:30 AM Housing Starts Jun

I will be paying close attention to the Business Inventory number, as well as the Philadelphia Fed. The Housing numbers should also be very interesting. So, whether you are buying or selling in the current conditions, Next week will certainly make a financial impact on your holdings.

2009 2nd Quarter Earnings - Google, Citibank, etc

We have seen the stock market drop nearly 10% from it's Highs back in late May. In the last two weeks though, the market has really tumbled. Most of this is from economic data, which was not as good as expected, but a lot of the negative sentiment is from jitters before the 2nd quarter earnings reports for 2009. Starting next week we will see some very important companies release their earnings. Below are just some of the companies releasing their reports next week, that I feel are a bit more important to the economy as a whole.

Tuesday, July 14th
Goldman Sachs
Johnson & Johnson

Wednesday, July 15th
Kinder Morgan
Worthington Industries

Thursday, July 16th
Google
IBM

Friday, July 18th
Bank of America
Citigroup
General Electric
Mattel

If the majority of these reports are better then expected, and if the companies give forecasts that seem to lend a hint of optimism towards a soon to be expanding economy, meaning more job opportunities, we may just retest the highs of late May. Having said this, it could go the other way as well. I personally see more room to the upside then downside though.

Cash for Clunkers Program and Next Week

It's Friday again so another look at the week ahead, but first I want to talk a little about the Cash For Clunkers Program that was just approved by the government.

Cash for Clunkers Program
The Program today was approved by the Senate and just needs Obama to sign it into law. It gives consumers with cars that get less than 18 miles per gallon the ability to turn them in for a $3,500 or $4,500 cash credit. This could be huge for the economy, and will also make a lot of environmentalists happy. It might be enough for me to consider buying into some auto stocks. Although, "Cash for Clunkers," will not save the auto industry by itself, it could pave the way for quite a nice rebound. Those companies which make the more fuel efficient vehicles should see the most benefit. Only if the 300 Mile per gallon car, the Aptera was selling yet.

Next Weeks Economic Data

- Jun 23 10:00 AM Existing Home Sales May
- Jun 24 8:30 AM Durable Orders May
- Jun 24 8:30 AM Durable Orders, Ex-Transportation May
- Jun 24 10:00 AM New Home Sales May
- Jun 24 10:30 AM Crude Inventories 06/19
- Jun 24 2:15 PM FOMC Rate Decision
- Jun 25 8:30 AM Initial Claims 06/20
- Jun 25 8:30 AM Q1 GDP - Final Q1
- Jun 26 8:30 AM Personal Income May
- Jun 26 8:30 AM Personal Spending
- Jun 26 8:30 AM PCE Core May
- Jun 26 9:55 AM Mich Sentiment-Rev

A Few of Next Weeks Earnings releases:

Walgreens - Monday
Oracle - Tuesday
Nike - Wednesday
RedHat - Wednesday
Rite Aid - Wednesday
Wyeth - Wednesday