Stock Market, Feb. 11: What's on Tap

NEW YORK (TheStreet -- Aside from the fluid situation in Egypt, Friday's focus will be squarely on the fate of Fannie Mae(FNMA) and Freddie Mac(FMCC).

The White House is expected to unveil its plan to overhaul the mortgage giants. There is a Republican-backed plan that would wind down these massive government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, over the next four years, but that's considered in many quarters to be an aggressive approach that could create more problems than it solves.

The bankers want to get rid of Fannie and Freddie because they want the mortgage business all to themselves. The real estate companies and homebuilders want to keep the entities alive because at least they are still lending and keeping the sluggish home loan business afloat.

But back to Egypt, which contributed to volatility on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its eight-day winning streak come to an end. Unrest continues in the country with more protests planned for Friday after President Hosni Mubarak left the massive crowds calling for his resignation profoundly unsatisfied by refusing to step down.

Although Mubarak said he would delegate some of his power and reiterated he wouldn't run in fall elections, he failed to placate the protesters in Cairo and elsewhere in the country, and more demonstrations are planned for Friday.

President Barack Obama issued a critical statement following Mubarak's speech, saying the Egyptian government needs to do more to stabilize the situation.

Meantime Nokia(NOK) is having an analyst meeting in which it is expected to announce a partnership with Microsoft(MSFT) for Windows phones.

Nokia keeps missing the market on smartphones and aligning with Microsoft seems to be more of the same, or as one Google(GOOG) executive is said to have put it -- two turkeys don't make an eagle. Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop is a former Microsoft executive.

On the data front, Michigan's consumer sentiment report comes out at 10 a.m. EST. The number is expected to be decent. But remember this is a phone call to 500 people who actually stay on the line to answer questions. Do you ever do this? International trade figures will also be coming out and this is normally spun according to whether the market wants a strong or weak dollar.