Wall Street braces for bumpy ride
(AP)Updated: 2007-03-05 15:58
OTHER ECONOMIC DATA IN THE FOREFRONT
The Institute for Supply Management on Monday will report its index on the services economy in February. The market is expecting a reading of 57.5, down slightly from 59.0 in January.
Also Monday, St. Louis Fed President William Poole will speak on inflation and economic growth in Santiago, Chile.
On Tuesday, the market expects the Labor Department to revise its fourth-quarter productivity growth measure to an annual rate of 1.7 percent from a previous 3.0 percent, and the Commerce Department to report a 4 percent slowdown in January factory orders. Factory orders include the previously reported durable goods - one of the many disappointing factors contributing to last Tuesday's freefall - plus non-durable goods orders.
Meanwhile Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reports January's pending home sales.
On Wednesday, investors will read the Fed's beige book, which describes economic conditions in regions around the country. The Federal Reserve's monthly measure of consumer credit comes Wednesday as well, and is expected to be $7 billion for January, up from December's $6 billion.
On Thursday, the nation's retailers report their sales for February.
And Friday will be a data-heavy day, bringing the jobs report and the trade balance for January. The market is forecasting the trade gap will come in narrower at $60.0 billion from $61.2 billion in December. Also, January wholesale inventories are expected to show a 0.1 percent decline, less than December's decrease of 0.5 percent.
AND IN THE BACKGROUND, A TRICKLE OF EARNINGS
Earnings season is mostly over, and corporate growth in the last quarter of 2006 came in at around 10 percent - slower than in previous months, but still healthy. Investors haven't been too occupied lately with individual company news, but they shouldn't discount the possibility of a big earnings surprise rattling the markets.
BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. release their earnings Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The market is expecting BJ's to report profit of 66 cents per share. BJ's closed at $31.93 Friday, at the upper end of its 52-week range of $25.18 to $34.04.
Costco is also expected to report profit of 66 cents per share. Costco closed at $55.75 Friday, at the upper end of its 52-week range of $46.00 to $58.70.
Meanwhile, analysts predict homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. on Thursday to report a loss of 59 cents per share. Hovananian closed at $30.75 Friday, in the middle of its 52-week range of $24.79 to $47.80.
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