Market, Econ Data Take a Breather

Earnings Preview – Week of June 4th

There is not much on the docket with respect to earnings and economic reports this week. The next earnings season will not get fully underway till the second half of July, though we still have a handful of companies reporting the first quarter results.

The tone of the economic debate has shifted following the disappointing May jobs report, with questions about sustainability of the growth momentum -- howsoever moderate it was to begin with -- taking center stage. Risk aversion is in full control of the markets, which is pushing yields on the U.S. Treasuries and U.S. Bonds to new record lows.

But we will not get much fresh data on the state of the economy this week. Aside from the monthly service-sector ISM report on Tuesday and the weekly Jobless Claims report on Thursday, we don’t have much in terms of top-tier economic data on tap.

Headlines about Europe will effectively guarantee that this otherwise quiet-looking period will be anything but. We are about two weeks away from the Greek parliamentary vote, which is expected to determine the country’s future in the Euro-zone. Spain’s struggles with its banking sector and the yields on the Italian and Spanish government bonds will be in the spotlight.   

We haven’t closed the books on the first quarter 2012 reporting season, as we still have a number of companies (with fiscal quarters ending in April) to report results. As of Friday (06/1), a total of 492 companies in the S&P 500 have already reported results. We will get results from 68 companies this week, including 3 from the S&P 500.

Monday - 6/4

• We will get the April Factory Orders report after the markets open, with expectations for a 0.2% increase after the 1.5% drop in March. The factory sector appears to be good health, though the May manufacturing ISM reading showed a modest loss of momentum. The new orders component of the ISM index was up in both in the May as well as April readings.
• The only notable earnings report is from Dollar General (DG) after the close.  

Tuesday - 6/5

• We will get the May Non-Manufacturing (or Service sector) ISM report after the markets open, with expectations for a modest increase from April’s 53.5 level. In addition to the index’s headline level, it will be interesting to see what its employment component shows given the disappointing May jobs report.
• We will get results from JA Solar (JASO) and LDK Solar (LDK), with the former reporting before the market opens and the latter after the market closes.

Wednesday - 6/6

• We will get the first quarter Productivity numbers in the morning, with expectations for a 0.9% decline. We will get the Fed’s Beige Book that afternoon.
• We will get results from Brown Forman (BF.B) in the morning and Pall Corp (PLL) after the market closes. We will get results from homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) in the morning and Men’s Wearhouse (MW) after the market closes.

Thursday - 6/7

• Weekly Jobless Claims will be in focus in the morning. It will be interesting to see what the report brings up this week after the across-the-board disappointing labor market readings the week before, including the surprise jump in initial claims.
• We will get results from JM Smucker (SJM) and Titan Machinery (TITN) before the market opens.

Friday - 6/8

• We will get the April Trade Deficit numbers in the morning, with expectations of a decline in monthly deficit from the March level.
• The only notable earnings report is from Ferrellgas Partners (FGP), the propane distributor, before the market opens.

Here is the list of companies reporting this week:

Zacks Investment Research