The Thick of Q1 Earnings Season

We are jumping right into the thick of the first quarter reporting cycle this week, with more than 250 companies coming out with results, including 89 companies from the S&P 500.

We will have representation from the who’s who of the corporate world, with a number of bellwether players on tap to come out with results. By the end of the week, we will have a good enough number to judge this earnings season.

While earnings will remain the primary focus during the week, we have a number of market-moving economic releases on deck as well. We will get a sense of the consumer economy though the monthly Retail Sales numbers, while the Industrial Production report will give us a good read on the manufacturing sector. Regional manufacturing surveys from the New York and Philly Feds will provide a preview of the manufacturing ISM index. We also have a fair amount of housing data on tap, particularly Housing Starts and Existing Home sales.

Monday

• We will get the March Retail Sales numbers and earnings results from Citigroup ( C - Analyst Report ) before the markets open. The Empire State manufacturing survey comes out after the markets open.
• For Retail Sales, the expectations are for a 0.4% gain following February’s strong 1.1% gain. Excluding autos, retail sales are expected to have increased 0.6% vs. the 0.9% increase in February.

Tuesday

• We will get earnings reports from Coca Cola ( KO - Analyst Report ) , Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ - Analyst Report ) and Goldman Sachs ( GS - Analyst Report ) before the open, in addition to the March Housing Starts numbers. The Industrial Production data comes out a little later, while Intel ( INTC - Analyst Report ) , IBM ( IBM - Analyst Report ) and Yahoo (YHOO) report results after the close.
• Housing Starts have been bouncing around the 700,000 level for a while and that’s where the expectation is. Industrial Production is expected to have increased by 0.5% in March after the flat reading in February.

Wednesday

• There is nothing material on the economic calendar. And while it’s a busy earnings day, we don’t have a lot of household names on the docket.
• Halliburton (HAL) and Abbott Labs (ABT) report before the open, while eBay (EBAY) and American Express (AXP) come out after the close.

Thursday

• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims and earnings reports from Bank of America (BAC), Verizon (VZ), DuPont (DD) and Morgan Stanley (MS) will be in focus before the markets open. The Philly Fed survey comes out a little after the markets open, while Microsoft (MSFT) will report after the close.
• Last week’s surprise jump in Jobless Claims could be due to complications arising from seasonal adjustments around earlier Easter. If that is the case, we should see reversal in this key series.

Friday

• There is nothing on deck for economic releases, while earnings results from General Electric (GE), McDonald’s (MCD) and Schlumberger (SLB) come out before the open.

Earnings Calendar