Coming Week: Batten the Hatches

Wednesday will also bring reports from General Dynamics(GD Quote), JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote), Abbott Labs(ABT Quote) and Allstate(ALL Quote).

Thursday will be the busiest day of the week on the earnings front, with a lineup featuring Amgen(AMGN Quote), Broadcom(BRCM Quote) and Ford (F Quote).

Also on tap are earnings announcements from Dow components Honeywell(HON Quote) and Pfizer(PFE Quote).

And once again, big tech players will take the stage after the bell, as powerhouses Microsoft(MSFT Quote) and Google(GOOG Quote) release results.

Analysts expect Microsoft to report earnings of 30 cents a share for its fiscal fourth quarter, with revenue of $11.63 billion. A year earlier, the company earned 32 cents a share.

For Google, Wall Street expects earnings of $2.21 a share, up sharply from $1.36 a year ago, on revenue of $1.64 billion.

Friday's earnings highlights include reports from Eli Lilly(LLY Quote), Caterpillar(CAT Quote) and Halliburton(HAL Quote).

Inflation Nation?

Geopolitical worries may have pushed inflation fears onto the back burner, but the coming week's release of the consumer and producer price indexes -- and a trip to Capitol Hill by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke -- will once again turn up the heat on rate-hike speculation.

June capacity utilization figures arrive on Monday morning. Economists surveyed by First Call are expecting a slight increase to 81.9% from 81.7% the prior month. Industrial production for June is expected to jump 0.4%, a reversal from the 0.1% decline in May.

"The Fed has been obsessed with capacity utilization data of late," says Phil Neuhart, economist at Wachovia. "If we get a larger-than-expected increase then they will probably continue to keep up the pressure on rates."

The eagerly anticipated PPI will be released on Tuesday morning. Economists forecast an increase of 0.3%, up from 0.2% growth a month earlier. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core PPI is expected to rise 0.2%, compared with 0.3% growth in May.