By Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch
Microsoft, Google, Facebook also reporting results
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--Investor attention will be divided
between earnings from tech heavyweights like Apple Inc. and
Microsoft Inc. and the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market
Committee this week.
Stocks managed to hold on to weekly gains even as Friday
derailed a four-day winning streak on the Dow Jones Industrial
Average (DJI) and the S&P 500 index (SPX). The Dow finished up
0.9% on the week, and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%. The Nasdaq
Composite Index (RIXF) closed up 0.2% Friday for a 2.7% gain on the
week.
Sour news--more likely from earnings than from the Fed--this
week could put those gains in jeopardy. Plus, markets will have to
deal with any possible fallout from Sunday's election in
Greece.
"Earnings have been a little on the weak side to start," said
Anthony Valeri, investment strategist for LPL Financial. "So,
growth rates are a little behind what was expected, and that's
surprised a few folks."
Apple will be carrying the weight of the tech sector on its
shoulders on Tuesday. Tech sector earnings are estimated to grow
3.8% for the fourth-quarter, but, if you take Apple earnings away,
expected earnings growth for the sector plummets to 0.1%, according
to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet.
Eleven Dow 30 components also will report quarterly results
along with nearly 30% of the S&P 500 index.
Notable earnings this week
Report date Company Name/Ticker (FactSet EPS / revenue estimates)
Mon., Jan. 26 Microsoft (71 cents / $26.3 billion)Texas Instruments Inc. (69 cents / $3.27 billion)
Tues, Jan. 27 Apple ($2.59 / $67.31 billion)Yahoo Inc. (29 cents / $1.19 billion)Pfizer Inc. (53 cents / $12.92 billion)AT&T Inc. (54 cents / $34.29 billion)Procter & Gamble Co. ($1.13 / $20.6 billion)Amgen Inc. ($2.05 / $5.2 billion)United Technologies Corp. ($1.62 / $17.13 billion)
Weds., Jan. 28 Facebook Inc. (48 cents / $3.78 billion)Qualcomm Inc. ($1.26 / $6.94 billion)Boeing Co. ($2.11 / $23.93 billion)
Thurs., Jan. 29 Google Inc. ($7.11 / $14.76 billion)Amazon.com Inc. (18 cents / $29.68 billion) Visa Inc. ($2.49 / $3.34 billion)
Fri., Jan. 30 Chevron Corp. ($1.69 / $35.87 billion)AbbVie Inc. (85 cents / $5.35 billion)Altria Group Inc. (66 cents / $4.53 billion)
On Wednesday, the Fed will end its two-day policy meeting with a
statement but without the usual news conference, so investors will
likely be parsing any wording changes in the policy statement more
than usual.
While there are no big expectations from the meeting itself, the
unanticipated actions of the Swiss National Bank and other central
banks earlier in the month could affect what the Fed does.
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