Wednesday's Headlines: Stress Tests Ahead

Updated from 7:32 a.m. EDT

(At 4:19 p.m. EDT)

Thanks for the Leaks

At the start of the week, Thursday was circled in red on my calendar as the most important of these five trading sessions, thanks to the expected release of the government's stress test results. Little did I know that the leaked reports could very well make today the busiest trading day of the week.

Even if the surprise was ruined today, there is still plenty to look forward to Thursday. For one, we're going to get the absolute, definitive word straight from the government's mouth. There will be no more "people familiar with the matter" used in stories. There will be no more questions and approximate numbers. We'll get the complete report on all 19 major U.S. banks, and that might finally end this ridiculous streak of reports we've seen leading up to the release.

Of course, as my fellow writer Lauren LaCapra writes, the stress tests will likely not tell investors anything they didn't already know. But still, it'll be interesting to see what the banks say in planned conference calls after the official results are released.

Of course, there are a handful of earnings reports that investors will have to comb through. General Motors (GM), Sirius XM (SIRI), American International Group (AIG), Wendy's (WEN) and several other companies will report quarterly results ahead of the opening bell.

In addition, investors will have to review reports that hit after the closing bell, including Cisco Systems' (CSCO) fiscal third-quarter beat earnings and News Corp.'s (NWS) own third-quarter report.

The flow of economic releases picks up Thursday, with separate reports on first-quarter productivity and unit labor costs, weekly jobless claims, and consumer credit for March coming due.