por admin » Dom Jul 15, 2012 3:08 pm
Next Week’s Tape: Earnings, Housing, and Bernanke, Too
By Cynthia Lin
Next week’s barrage of economic reports offers a first peek at activity in the second half of the year, marked with expectations of baby steps forward and a housing market in recovery mode.
They may get lost in the barrage of earnings reports, however. The next two weeks comprise the bulk of earnings season. Next week will be dominated by banks like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Fifth Third, but will also feature a heavy dose of tech companies. Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Intel, and AMD all report earnings as well.
Oh, and Ben Bernanke goes to Capitol Hill.
Next week’s data reports are heavy on the housing front. Despite cheap mortgages, high unemployment and deleveraging efforts have held the housing industry back since the financial crisis. But the long-depressed area of the economy has seen some light of late, and economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires see a continuation of that turn in the market.
Economists see the National Association of Home Builders index, out Tuesday, ticking up to 30 in July from 29 last month. This is followed by housing starts Wednesday, expected to jump to 745,000 in June from 708,000. Sales of existing homes, due Thursday, are seen increasing to 4.65 million.
Regional reads on manufacturing activity and economic conditions are also expected to improve, though slightly. The New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State survey is out Monday, expected at 5.0 this month, from 2.29 in June. Thursday’s Philadelphia Fed survey is at a less-dismal -10.0, from -16.6.
A summary of conditions will be revealed in the central bank’s monthly Beige Book, out Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT.
Accompanying this heavy slate of economic indicators, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke makes his semi-annual congressional testimony on monetary policy and economic outlook Tuesday and Wednesday. Given the discouraging economic signals in the past few weeks, the chairman’s remarks will be parsed for any signs of increased willingness to deliver more cheap-money stimulus.
Signs of inflation have been contained, giving the Fed room to conduct more easing. Economists expect consumer prices to have stayed in check last month, seeing the headline index up 0.1% and core prices that exclude food and energy costs up 0.2%.
Here’s your handy, clip-and-save data calendar:
Monday:
Economics:
July New York Fed Empire State survey (8:30): seen inching ahead to 5, from 2.29 in June
June retail sales (8:30): seen rising 0.2%, after falling 0.2% in June
May business inventories (10:00): seen rising 0.2%, after rising 0.4% in April
Earnings:
Citigroup, J.B. Hunt, Brown & Brown, Cintas, Gannett
Tuesday:
Economics:
June consumer prices (8:30): seen rising 0.1% after falling 0.3% in May; core seen up 0.2%
June industrial production (9:15): seen rising 0.4%, after falling 0.1% in May
June capacity utilization (9:15): seen rising to 79.2% from 79.0% in May
July NAHB housing market index (10:00): seen rising to 30 from 29 in June
Earnings:
Coca-Cola, Yahoo, Goldman Sachs, Intel, State Street, TD Ameritrade, Johnson & Johnson, CSX, Comerica, Heartland Express, Mattel
Wednesday:
Economics:
June housing starts (8:30): seen rising by 5.2%, after falling 4.8% in May
June building permits (8:30): seen falling 1.1%, after rising 8.4% in May
Earnings:
IBM, Bank of America, eBay, Qualcomm, Blackrock, Honeywell, U.S. Bancorp, Yum Brands, Delta Air, Abbott Labs, Bank of New York,
Thursday:
Economics:
Weekly jobless claims (8:30): seen rising by 20,000, to 370,000, from 350,000
June existing home sales (10:00): seen rising 2.2%, after falling 1.5% in May
July Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey(10:00): seen narrowing to -10.0 from -16.6 in June
June Leading Index (10:00): seen falling 0.1%, after rising 0.3% in May
Earnings:
Google, Travelers, Microsoft, AMD, Morgan Stanley, E*Trade, Fifth Third, AutoNation, KeyCorp, BB&T, Johnson Controls, Philip Morris, Southwest Air, Union Pacific, Baxter, Capital One, NCR, SanDisk