From Reuters.com
The day ahead: Thursday
When U.S. retail chains report November sales, investors will learn whether they have gone far enough to protect profits against a weak start to the holiday shopping season.
Highlights:
* President Barack Obama holds a forum on job creation with U.S. business leaders to devise ways to combat double-digit unemployment.
* Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke vowed before taking office to follow in the footsteps of his storied predecessor, Alan Greenspan, but he will likely distance himself from the past when he testifies before the Senate Banking Committee in a bid to win confirmation to a fresh four-year stint at the helm of the U.S. central bank.
* At the Reuters Media Summit, being held in New York and London, we hear from Google President Global Sales Operations and Business Development Nikesh Arora and Take-Two Interactive Chairman Strauss Zelnick.
* Reporting quarterly results are: Toll Brothers, Bombardier and Marvell Technology Group.
The day ahead: Wednesday
Indications of what markets might expect from Friday’s non-farm payrolls report could emerge from the ADP National Employment private sector survey and the November Challenger Layoff report.
Other highlights:
* The lead committee on financial regulatory reform in the House of Representatives is expected to approve the last two of eight major regulatory bills.
* Ford is expected to reveal its highly anticipated new Fiesta small car at the LA Auto Show, which runs through Thursday, while General Motors plans to showcase the U.S. production version of its new Chevrolet Cruze small car.
* At the third day of the Reuters Media Summit we talk with WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, IAC CEO Barry Diller and Financial Times CEO John Ridding.
* Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies before a Senate Committee on Agriculture hearing on OTC derivatives reform at 9:30 a.m. EST.
The day ahead: Tuesday
Major automakers are expected to report flat U.S. auto sales for November from a year ago — another sign the industry is on the mend after a bruising downturn that forced extensive restructuring earlier this year. Read preview here.
Other highlights:
* The U.S. manufacturing sector is expected to have grown in November, but at a slower pace than October, underscoring the fragility of the economic recovery. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index reading is estimated at 55.0 in November. Read preview here.
* Tuesday is the deadline for shareholders of Norwegian video conferencing system maker Tandberg to accept Cisco’s takeover offer.
* The Street will look for any signal from Staples of an uptick in sales to small businesses and a report card of the office-products retailer’s performance in the back-to-school season when it reports quarterly results.
* At the second day of the Reuters Media Summit, being held in New York and London, we speak with Time Warner Cable Chairman, President & CEO Glenn Britt and Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello.
The day ahead: Wednesday
October orders for durable goods are expected to show a modest rise of 0.5 percent. If the forecast is correct, it would be the third rise in four months and show that demand was picking up for big-ticket items.
Other Highlights:
* It’s a big day for economic data with personal spending and income, consumer sentiment, new home sales and the weekly jobless claims on tap.
* Tiffany reports results that will show whether it has been able to sustain the improvement in sales it reported in August.
* Deere & Co reports fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and will provide investors with a preliminary glimpse into the coming year.
* At the Reuters India Investment Summit in Bangalore and Mumbai, speakers include top executives from Infosys Technologies, Wipro, SAP India, Mphasis and Mahindra Satyam.
The day ahead: Friday
D.R. Horton, the second-largest U.S. homebuilder, reports its fourth quarter and fiscal year results. Investors will listen for any comments on the builder’s order trends and commentary as they try to discern whether the nascent housing market recovery will buoy the new home sector.
Other Highlights:
* Nortel assets hit the auction block. Nokia Siemens Networks and private equity firm One Equity Partners have jointly bid for Nortel Networks Corp’s optical networking and carrier ethernet business, a person familiar with the sale said on Wednesday.
* The Bank of Japan announces the decision of its two-day policy board meeting.
Here in the Northeast, Western Mass builders are mostly independent and small like me. We don’t get on the statistical roles. No Unemployment compensation, no 1099 offers, and few clients sponsoring work. Everyone wants a “free Estimate” yet it can take me 4-6 hours of unpaid time just to compete on a bathroom remodel bid, because they are mostly customized.No support, no dignity, little respect, and the bills for quarterly presumed earnings keep coming from my government under threat of penalty and exorbitant interest if they remain unpaid. Would you pay something you didn’t earn, just because Uncle Sam Thinks you should have?ESF
The day ahead: Thursday
Dell reports quarterly results for the first time as the No. 3 maker of personal computers — unfamiliar territory for a company that not so long ago was the world’s largest PC maker. Other Highlights:
* In what promises to be a fiery debate, the Senate Banking Committee begins discussion on Committee Chair Christopher Dodd’s Restoring American Financial Stability Act, a comprehensive bill to reform the financial system.
* Also in Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on financial regulatory reform before the Joint Economic Committee.
* Quarterly results are expected from Gap, Sears, AnnTaylor and Children’s Place.
So Dell is #3? Too bad we can’t find out more about ithere, without clicking around for several minutes and then finding we’ve just gone in circles. What a confusing format. Maybe I’ll check out CNN.
The day ahead: Tuesday
Home Depot reports quarterly earnings. The top home improvement chain has been banking on a slow-but-steady growth strategy and cost cuts to fight lackluster demand for big-ticket remodeling projects.
Other highlights:
* Brian Moynihan, on the short-list of CEO candidates at Bank of America, is expected to testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing.
* Target has reported eight consecutive declines in quarterly profit but it may break that streak with its third quarter results.
* Producer prices are expected to have risen 0.5 percent in October after an unexpected 0.6 percent in September, which was largely driven by a 2.4 percent decline in energy prices. Economists expect industrial output data to show production inched up.
* At the Reuters Finance Summit we speak with former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, HSBC North America CEO Brendan McDonagh, Nomura COO of Americas Takeo Sumino, and Hudson City Bancorp CEO Ronald Hermance.
The day ahead: Thursday
Wal-Mart sales numbers will hold the spotlight along with results from Walt Disney and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Highlights:
* Wal-Mart is expected to report higher third-quarter earnings, but Wall Street is focused on U.S. sales, which the retailer has stopped reporting on a monthly basis.
* Walt Disney is expected to report earnings of 41 cents per share and further emphasize a recovery in advertising sales seen at the cable networks of competitors Time Warner and Viacom.
* Anheuser-Busch InBev is braced to report a decline in consumption of its beers such as Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s, weighing on profits in the first half.
* At the fourth day of the Reuters Health Summit being held in New York, we speak with FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty, and Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan.
* Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrives in Singapore for a meeting of finance ministers from the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
The day ahead: Wednesday
At the Reuters Health Summit expect exclusive interviews from the CEO’s of Pfizer, Humana and Novo Nordisk.
* On the earnings front, department store Macy’s and chip equipment maker Applied Materials report results.
* The stock and futures markets will be open on the U.S. holiday Veterans Day.
The day ahead: Tuesday
At the Reuters Health Summit expect exclusive interviews with Merck CEO Richard Clark, AstraZeneca CEO David Brennan and Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter.
Other highlights:
* Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner begins a two-day official visit to Japan ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers’ meeting in Singapore on Thursday.
* Diversified U.S. manufacturer Tyco International reports third-quarter results. Wall Street expects another drop in profit as the ongoing soft economy saps demand for industrial products.
And what are these “exclusive interviews” really worth? After all, these are rich, powerful people who can wrangle a public hearing any time they choose. What do we gain from giving them yet another forum for their views? Are they going to say anything we can’t already guess at? Will they suggest that the free market is antithetical to giving people life-saving health care? No, they will say the same things they always say…that they won’t be able to do their job effectively with too much government interference, and, yes, they know they’ve made some mistakes, but they will do better. You are doing no service whatsoever to the public that looks to you for information by pandering to their propaganda. For a change, why not let ordinary people, people who struggle to get by and have to hustle to figure out how to pay their bills, let them have an open forum to dispense their own wisdom? This is a waste of time.
