On Tap Today: Earnings From Banks, Novellus in Spotlight

Earnings announcements resume priority standing today, as the market takes its cues from the numerous companies scheduled to report.

Today's highlights include equipment manufacturer

Novellus Systems

(NVLS)

. Thanks to positive reports from chipmakers including

Altera

(ALTR) - Get Altair Engineering Inc. Class A Report

, the

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index

enjoyed a nice lift last week. If Novellus' numbers impress, those gains will likely be extended.

On the heels of

UBS'

(UBS) - Get UBS Group AG Report

proposed acquisition of

PaineWebber

(PWJ)

,

Citigroup

(C) - Get Citigroup Inc. Report

got a bounce last week. Today, it's one of the many financial services companies scheduled to post earnings.

Also today, investors will be watching

Handspring

(HAND)

,

Cepheid

(CPHD)

, and

ClickSoftware Technologies

(CKSW)

. Over the weekend, these technology companies came off their quiet periods.

Expected Earnings Reports

This table includes S&P 500 companies only. Dates are as expected according to First Call/Thomson Financial, and may change. The full week's earnings calendar is published separately.

Economic Data

(

Forecasts are from

Reuters

. Times are Eastern. For a longer-term economic calendar and more, see

TSC's

Economic Databank.

)

8:30 a.m.: Business inventories for May. Source: Census Bureau. Forecast: N/A. Previous: +0.4%.

IPO Quiet Periods Expiring

TheStreet.com's

Ben Holmes, who heads

TSC's

ipoPros.com subsidiary, keeps a close eye on quiet-period expirations every week. For more on quiet periods and why they matter, check out Holmes' primer on the subject. The full current quiet-period expirations list is published separately.