Flood of Earnings From About 155 Companies
The earnings dam will burst this week, unleashing a flood of numbers and business forecasts that investors hope will buoy a stock market desperate for signs of an economic recovery.
The week will bring earnings news from about 155 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, including nearly half of the 30 blue-chip names in the Dow Jones industrial average, according to market research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.
Earnings are supposed to be down about 22.5%--the worst in a decade--but investors are more focused on corporate forecasts.
Because the stock market is closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the numerous announcements will be compressed into four days rather than five in the usual trading week.
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, will give investors a reason to look beyond the earnings deluge when he ascends the Capitol Hill steps Thursday, to testify before the Senate Budget Committee on the state of the U.S. economy.
His comments precede by nearly a week the Fed’s next meeting on Jan. 29-30 to consider lowering interest rates. If the Fed cuts rates, it would be the 12th reduction in nearly 13 months.
Reuters
*
Other economic news coming this week:
Tuesday, Conference Board releases the index of leading economic indicators for December.
Tuesday, Treasury Department will issue the December budget figures. Many analysts say the U.S. will post a deficit in fiscal 2002 after a four-year period of surpluses.
Friday, National Assn. of Realtors will report on the rate of previously owned homes in December.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Quarterly Earnings Preview
A sampling of companies expected to report earnings this week:
Day Company Estimated EPS* Year-ago EPS*
Tues.
Amazon.com $-0.07 $-0.25
Bank of America 1.24 0.85
Johnson & Johnson 0.39 0.32
Lucent -0.25 -0.39
McKesson 0.36 0.24
Merck 0.81 0.75
Motorola -0.05 0.15
Weds.
Amgen 0.31 0.24
Boeing 0.90 1.01
Broadcom -0.12 0.32
Dupont 0.11 0.47
Exxon Mobil 0.40 0.73
Halliburton 0.33 0.22
Thurs.
Bristol-Myers Squibb 0.59 0.54
EMC -0.08 0.25
McDonald’s 0.34 0.34
Qualcomm 0.23 0.26
Safeway 0.81 0.71
SBC Comm 0.62 0.57
Starbucks 0.15 0.12
Fri.
Ericsson -0.3 -0.2
* EPS: Earnings-per-share
Source: First Call/Thomson Financial
