U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday, while contenders for the Republican presidential nomination will face off in two debates next week. Also, U.S. lawmakers will meet to try to iron out differences over a payroll-tax extension and a continuation in federal jobless benefits.
Quarterly Earnings Due From Blue Chip Stocks
A handful of Dow Jones Industrial Average companies--including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and 3M Co. (MMM)--are among those reporting their latest quarterly results. The trio are all expected to post improved top- and bottom-line results from a year ago, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Other companies from the Dow 30 planning to report their results next week include Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Boeing Co. (BA), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG).
Weaker Results Expected From Texas Instruments, Yahoo
The tech earnings parade continues, with results from chip maker Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) on Monday and Internet giant Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) due Tuesday.
TI cut its fourth-quarter guidance last month, pointing to broad-based weakness in all of its end markets, from communications infrastructure to videogame hardware. The chip maker's customers are still working through excess inventory, making it even harder for TI to match the robust results it delivered last year.
Meanwhile, analysts expect Yahoo to post flat earnings per-share growth and slightly lower revenue. The Internet giant is still undergoing a strategic review that could result in a sale of some or all of itself. The turnaround plan to narrow Yahoo's wide-ranging operations and costs and join forces with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in a search partnership has failed so far to reliably increase revenue. Yahoo has indicated short-term difficulties held back display-advertising business, but that business is facing increasing competition from Google Inc. (GOOG) and Facebook Inc. The company also has seen some high-profile executive changes recently--Scott Thompson, the former president of eBay Inc.'s (EBAY) PayPal unit, was named chief executive earlier this month, while co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the board Tuesday.
Obama To Give State Of The Union Address
Obama will give his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Presidents have historically used the speech to lay out their policy agendas, but Obama also is expected to make the case for his re-election come November despite a sour U.S. economy and poor job approval ratings.
The prime-time speech is on the calendar between Monday's GOP debate at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., and Thursday's debate in Jacksonville, Fla.
US Lawmakers To Meet To Iron Out Differences Over Payroll-Tax Extension
U.S. lawmakers will meet next week to try to iron out differences over a payroll-tax extension and a continuation in federal jobless benefits.
The main sticking point between the Democratic and Republican negotiating positions is how to pay for the roughly $150 billion cost of the package.
Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) and Rep. Dave Camp (R., Mich.), chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, will lead the negotiations.
An initial meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.
FOMC To Release Interest-Rate Decision
The Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-setting arm of the Federal Reserve Board, will start its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. Last month, the FOMC officials reiterated that short-term interest rates are likely to stay close to zero until mid-2013 at least. In their assessment of the economy, they said indicators pointed to some improvement in the U.S. jobs market.
The Federal Reserve has said it will make public its monetary-policy projections starting this month. The details will include information on the expected timing of rate changes.
Durable Goods, December Housing Data To Be Released
The Commerce Department on Thursday releases its report on December durable-goods orders, a gauge of the health of the country's manufacturing sector. Orders for long-lasting goods rose more than expected in November, but the gain was driven mostly by strong demand for civilian airplanes.
More housing data are expected next week, with December pending home sales due Wednesday and December new home sales due a day later. The struggling housing sector showed improvement in November as the number of Americans signing contracts to buy existing homes increased to the highest level in 19 months. Meanwhile, new home sales rose for the third straight month in November, though the growth was less than economists expected.
NY Court To Consider AMR Pension Probe
American Airlines parent AMR Corp.'s (AAMRQ) pensions will take center stage in bankruptcy court next Friday, when a proposed investigation is up for consideration.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. says recent remarks by AMR's bankruptcy attorney raised the possibility that the company may seek to terminate the four plans covering the pensions of about 130,000 of its pilots, flight attendants, ground workers, agents and other employees. According to the PBGC, the plans are underfunded by about $10 billion.
The PBGC, which as the federal government's insurer of private pensions must take over any terminated pension plans, already faces a $26 billion deficit. In court papers, the federal agency said the termination of even just one AMR plan would "add significantly" to its deficit, whereas the termination of all four plans would "constitute a multi-billion dollar loss."
Guidewire, IntelePeer, Verastem To Debut Next Week
The U.S. IPO market is starting to show a few more signs of life, with launches expected from Guidewire Software Inc., IntelePeer Inc. and Verastem Inc. next week.
Guidewire, which plans to raise $90 million on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GWRE, makes software for the insurance industry. IntelePeer, which is seeking $83 million on the Nasdaq as PEER, provides cloud-based communication services to telecom providers and individual businesses. Biopharmaceutical company Verastem plans to raise as much as $50 million on the Nasdaq under the listing VSTM.
Those three, along with the debut of Renewable Energy Group Inc. (REGI) earlier this week, make for a fairly slow first month of the year. In January 2011, six deals came public, including a $1.9 billion offering from consumer analytics firm Nielsen Holdings NV (NLSN).
Conferences
Among the significant conferences next week are J.C. Penney Co.'s analyst meeting Wednesday and Thursday; the Burba Hotel Network Americas Lodging Investment Summit Monday through Wednesday in Los Angeles; the SNL Financial LC Financial Analysis of P&C Insurers Conference Wednesday and Thursday in New York; the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Multi Asset Conference Wednesday in Boston; and the Financial Services Exchange Consecutive Quarterly Investment Conference Thursday to Saturday in Dallas. (source http://online.wsj.com ) For the latest updates on the stock market, visit Stock Market Today For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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