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 Quote), Pfizer(PFE Quote) and American Express(AXP Quote).

Chipmaker Texas Instruments(TXN Quote) 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 Quote), DuPont(DD Quote), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ Quote) and Advanced Micro Devices(AMD Quote).

Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) 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 Quote), ConocoPhillips(COP Quote), eBay(EBAY Quote), McDonald's(MCD Quote) and General Dynamics(GD Quote).

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

Microsoft(MSFT Quote) 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 Quote) and Honeywell(HON Quote).

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