Week Ahead Market Report: 4/12/2010

(MarketNewsVideo.com) -- Good morning, I'm KRISTIN BIANCO, with the Week Ahead Market Report for April 12, 2010.

In overseas equity markets this morning, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4 percent today while China's Shanghai market dropped 0.8 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.4 percent.

The German DAX and Britain's Footsie 100 were marginally lower on Monday.

U.S. S&P index futures are slightly higher in Monday's pre-market action.

Crude oil futures for May were trading flat at $84.70 a barrel this morning, and April gold futures were marginally higher at just over $1,162 an ounce.

On the economic front, there will be a barrage of economic news on Wednesday that could drive the markets higher.

Retail sales, the Federal Reserve's beige book, the Consumer Price Index, and business inventories will all be released on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is also scheduled to testify before the Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday.

Observers are expecting the CPI to rise mildly, up 0.1 percent for March. February's CPI was flat.

Retail sales in February rose 0.3 percent after a slight gain of 0.1 percent in January. Economists are forecasting retail sales jumped 1.2 percent in March, signaling sharp growth in economic activity.

Business inventories are projected to have increased by 0.5 percent for February after being unchanged in January, another positive signal for the economy.

The mystery of how to solve Greece's sovereign debt crisis appears to finally be resolved. Greece got a promise of as much as 45 billion euros or US$61 billion in loans on Sunday from the euro-zone and the International Monetary Fund to avoid default. As a result, the euro strengthened against the dollar.

On the earnings front, Alcoa (AA) kicks off first quarter earnings season on Monday. Analysts are expecting first quarter profits of 11 cents per share on higher aluminum prices and increased demand due to faster economic growth.

Intel (INTC) will report profits on Tuesday. The consensus estimate is 38 cents per share.

Also on Tuesday, Talbots (TLB) is expected to announce 2 cents per share in first quarter earnings.

On Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is scheduled to report quarterly earnings of 64 cents per share, compared to a loss of 33 cents per share in the same quarter one year ago.

Yum! Brands (YUM) will also be reporting on Wednesday, with analysts expecting 52 cents a share in profits.

Search engine giant Google (GOOG) is scheduled to report earnings on Thursday. Analysts are expecting Google to earn $6.56 per share for the first quarter.

Bank of America (BA) will report profits on Friday, with analysts forecasting 9 cents per share.

Join us on Friday for the Weekly Market Wrap and have a wonderful week.

The preceeding is a transcript of the MarketNewsVideo.com video published at: http://www.marketnewsvideo.com/?id=201004WeekAhead041210&mv=1.