Coming Week: Alternative Ideas

Earnings Onslaught

Corporate earnings will dominate attention in the coming week, but a few key economic releases concerning the housing sector could steal a headline or two.

On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors will announce December existing-home sales data. The consensus estimate is for a rate of 6.3 million sales on an annualized basis, up slightly from the rate of 6.28 million in November.

New-home sales figures for December are set for release on Friday, along with the durable goods orders for the month. Economists are looking for new-home sales to have climbed to 1.053 million from 1.047 million the prior month. Durable orders are expected to show a rise of 1% vs. growth of 1.9% in November.

The earnings cascade resumes Monday with reports from Eaton(ETN), Pfizer(PFE) and American Express(AXP).

Chipmaker Texas Instruments(TXN) also will report Monday amid a rough spell for the semis. The company has already warned that sales were below its original expectations.

Tuesday's highlights include reports from Bank of America(BAC), DuPont(DD), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Advanced Micro Devices(AMD).

Yahoo!(YHOO) is on tap to report earnings after the bell Tuesday. Analysts are looking for the Internet giant to post earnings of 13 cents a share, down from 16 cents last year, on sales of $1.22 billion.

Among some of the notable names on Wednesday's earnings docket are Corning(GLW), ConocoPhillips(COP), eBay(EBAY), McDonald's(MCD) and General Dynamics(GD).

The action remains hot and heavy on Thursday with reports from AT&T(T), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Ford Motor (F) and Lockheed Martin(LMT).

Microsoft(MSFT) will also be reporting its second-quarter earnings on Thursday. Wall Street expects the software giant to post earnings of 23 cents a share, down a dime from a year ago, on revenue of $12.06 billion.

The frenetic pace cools off a bit on Friday, but there will still be some big hitters stepping up to the plate, including Dow components Caterpillar(CAT) and Honeywell(HON).

Staff reporter Gregg Greenberg contributed to this story.

1 What would best describe your stance heading into the coming week of trading? Bullish Bearish Neutral 2 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move up in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities 3 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move down in the coming week? --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities View the results without voting

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