Weekend Reading: Earnings Time

Good Sunday morning. As always, here are some articles and papers worth reading. First, however, a look back at the week that just finished, and a look forward at the week ahead.

It was an indifferent week for the major markets, with all three major indices up nominally or not at all. The Dow ended the week where it began it, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.2%, and the Nasdaq was up 0.5%.

The Dow got a taste of 11,000, and then fell back somewhat. After the prior week's standout gains, a less eventful second trading week in 2006 wasn't too surprising. Nevertheless, optimism remains high that the year's early advances will continue, with rate increases ending shortly, and fourth-quarter corporate profits and guidance looking solid.

Turning to the economic week ahead, we will see data about manufacturing health, unemployment, and housing starts, as well as the December consumer price index, an important inflation measure. The latter figure will be out Wednesday, and it will be watched closely, as will the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, with its information on current economic conditions.

Next week is active on the domestic earnings front. According to Reuters, the consensus is for 14% overall earnings growth, and we will see the first indications on things in the coming week, with a range of companies reporting. There are a number of technology companies reporting, including Intel, Yahoo, Apple and Advanced Micro Devices.

Also next week we have some major financial companies reporting, including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia. The other major report to watch next week will come from General Electric.

Finally, here are some articles and papers worth reading.

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Is Google headed for $2000 or $100? (Fortune)

The post-Greenspan U.S. economy is much less healthy than typically thought (Economist)

Can a book really beat the market? No (Bloomberg)

Barron's Roundtable is generally optimistic about equity prospects in 2006 (Barron's)

American consumers are the biggest spenders on the planet, spending more than Finland's GDP (AdAge)

The Blu-Ray/HD standoff will freeze the DVD market and boost video on demand (News.com)

Jim Rogers vs. the Russian Harvard MBA -- an email transcript (DDO)

Apple's iPod success has masked a decline in company profitability (Forbes)

Is Google "a religion posing as a company"? (Economist)

The Economist updates its Big Mac Index, and China has the most undervalued curency (Economist)

Bruce Wassterstein feels misunderstood over his Time-Warner intentions (N.Y. Times)

Flat-panel display makers may be headed into another capacity-fuelled glut (EE Times)

Books: Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst is getting decent pre-release reviews (Amazon)