The Coming Week in Europe: Firms Seek Their Place in Earnings Spotlight

BERLIN -- After taking cues from corporate America in recent weeks, a slew of European companies will set their own agenda in the coming week with a flurry of earnings reports.

That should help investors determine for themselves the earnings quality of some large Continental firms, rather than be influenced by the latest travails of their North American corporate counterparts. Lately, many big European stocks have been mercilessly batted about depending on how their rivals on the other side of the ocean are doing, instead of their own bottom line.

And while it's true that Wall Street often sets the tone for Europe's equity markets and not vice versa, many of the European companies reporting next week are big enough on the global scene to pique interest on both sides of the Atlantic. ...