Some of the biggest financial services companies, with earnings and partnership implications for advisors, report third-quarter earnings this week. While Congress and the President are busy campaigning, the Fed and its leaders remain hard at work, with watchers parsing Bernanke’s speech last week and looking for release of the Fed beige book this week. Tim Geithner speaks early in the week, while the SEC and CFTC hold a joint hearing at the end of the week on credit default swaps.
Monday, Oct. 18, brings Q3 earnings reports from and Citigroup, and the National Association of Home Builders releases its housing market index (HMI), while the Treasury Dept. reports on foreign nationals’ purchase of U.S. securities.
(A Wall Street Journal page one article on Oct. 18 reports that pension funds are fleeing equities, leaving the stock market in the hands of frequent traders like hedge funds.)
Other reports on Monday include the Fed’s September industrial production and capacity utilization report, while Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner speaks at the Commonwealth Club of California in Palo Alto. Geithner’s European counterparts begin two days of meetings on Eurozone budget rules meant to avoid a repeat of the PIGS countries’ debt problems.
On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the Census Bureau releases September housing starts early, while earnings are scheduled to be released by Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and BNY Mellon.
Market-moving news on Wednesday, Oct. 20 will likely be the Federal Reserve’s beige book survey and earnings from Piper Jaffray, Raymond James, Wells Fargo and BlackRock.
Thursday, Oct. 21 brings China's release of GDP, inflation, and factory output numbers for September, while the Conference Board releases its index of leading economic indicators for the U.S. for September. The Labor Dept. releases its weekly new jobless claims data.
The business week ends on Friday, Oct. 22, with the SEC and the CFTC holding a joint public roundtable on clearing of credit default swaps.
