The Week Ahead: HPE, Guidewire Lead Quiet Week

Jeremy Glaser: It is shaping up to be a quiet holiday-shortened week for both earnings and data.

Two technology reports we'll be watching are Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Guidewire. HP Enterprise has slimmed down and is focused on its core, traditional, on-premise hardware business, says analyst Ilya Kundozerov. But that category is under pressure from the cloud, and we don't think the firm has earned an economic moat. Guidewire might not be as well known, but Rodney Nelson thinks has built a wide moat as the premier vendor for software sold to the P&C insurers.

Kroger reports on Friday. In the grocery business, all eyes are on how much tougher the competitive environment will become after Amazon's takeover of Whole Foods

It's relatively quiet on the data front after all of the information released last week. Highlights include the ISM services gauge, factory orders, and the Fed Beige Book.

Stay tuned for our take on these stories.