Fed's Beige Book: Tomorrow's Headliners

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Federal Reserve's latest regional economic survey of its 12 districts, known as the beige book, will be the focus of Wednesday's session.

The beige book release, due at 2 p.m. EDT, is expected to show that the economic downturn has stabilized or slowed in the central bank's 12 districts. In the last beige book report, released in July, the Fed's regional banks said the labor market remained extremely soft and retail activity continued to be stagnant.

The beige book is the lone economic report Wednesday, but traders will have plenty more digest. Investors will be fixed on the $20 billion auction of 10-year Treasury bonds, with results expected to be announced in the afternoon. Additionally, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher are scheduled to speak Wednesday.

Turning to stocks, Texas Instruments (TXN Quote) will deliver its mid-quarter update. The pressure is on after fellow chipmaker Intel (INTC Quote) raised its third-quarter sales forecast last month. In other tech news, IBM (IBM Quote) will hold an analyst Webcast on Wednesday, a day after reaffirming its full-year view.

Apple (AAPL Quote) will also be in focus as the tech giant is scheduled to hold a media event at 1 p.m. EDT where it is expected to unveil a refresh to its iPod product line.

Wednesday has the fullest earnings schedule of any day this holiday-shortened week, with Talbots (TLB Quote) and Zale (ZLC Quote) set to report before the opening bell.

Navistar (NAV Quote) will headline those companies reporting after Wednesday's close. Smith & Wesson (SWHC Quote) and Men's Wearhouse (MW Quote) will also report late Wednesday.