Forex and Domain

U.S. stock market looks for firmer view of economic recovery NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. stock market's tepid two-week advance could pick up steam or falter altogether in coming weeks, depending on what a sizeable flow of economic reports has to say about the state of the recovery.
"Everybody is waiting to see the next couple of weeks of numbers so we can have a better idea of what is going on in the economy," said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer at Hugh Johnson Advisors.
"The numbers are a touch more encouraging, and next week we'll start to see some numbers that tell us very clearly how things went in August," said Johnson.
The less-dark view was illustrated on Wall Street, where the major stock indexes on Friday eked out a second consecutive week of gains, supported by reports that U.S. wholesale inventories rose the most in two years and that Japan's growth slowed less than forecast, brightening prospects for the global recovery.
Up 1% for the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed ( 10,463, +47.53, +0.46%) added 47.53 points, or 0.5%, to end at 10,462.77, with the blue-chip index ending back in the black for the year for the first time in the holiday-shortened week.
The S&P 500 Index /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x ( 1,110, +5.37, +0.49%) added 5.37 points, or 0.5%, to 1,109.55, leaving it up 0.5% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp ( 2,242, +6.28, +0.28%) added 6.28 points, or 0.3%, to 2,242.48, a rise of 0.4% from the week-ago close.
As equities climbed Treasurys fell, pushing the 10-year yield /quotes/comstock/31*!ust10y (2.80, 0.00, 0.00%) to a one-month high.
Crude-oil futures for October delivery climbed 3% to $76.45 a barrel, the highest finish in a month, as Chinese trade numbers pointed to a rise in crude imports and a pipeline between Canada and the U.S. was closed due to a leak.
Gold dropped for the commodity's first weekly decline in more than a month, with the contract for December delivery down 0.4% to $1,246.50 an ounce.
Economic reports in coming days will include figures on retail sales for August, and gauge of manufacturing activity in the New York region during September. The latter part of the week brings the government's count of initial claims for unemployment benefits, with the most recent count falling, including the four-week average.
"If the numbers come in with enough consistency to increase confidence then volume will pick up. What is lacking is confidence, and I don't think you build it on the back of one number," said Johnson.
A large portion of the summer had Wall Street veering from one dismal economic report to another, a scenario underscored by the worst August for stocks in nine years.
Yet September, historically the worst month of the year for equities, has so far had stocks on the mend as reports on the labor market, manufacturing and business activity came in better than expected, lifting sentiment a bit.
And, with November elections approaching, the economy and politics are in play, with President Barack Obama on Friday maintaining the U.S. economy is coming out of the worst recession in decades, while acknowledging the progress has been slow and conceding many Americans may fault him when they vote in November.
"He's quite right that the economy is in an expansion, and he's quite right that he wishes it were expanding more rapidly," said Johnson.
And, while the peak earnings' weeks are done, a few companies are scheduled to report results in the next few weeks, with six slated to announce quarterly results in the days ahead.
On Monday, Discover Financial Services /quotes/comstock/13*!dfs/quotes/nls/dfs ( 15.90, +0.19, +1.21%) reports, followed by Pall Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!pll/quotes/nls/pll ( 37.55, +0.10, +0.27%) , Best Buy Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!bby/quotes/nls/bby ( 33.88, +0.32, +0.95%) and grocer The Kroger Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!kr/quotes/nls/kr ( 21.25, +0.24, +1.14%) on Tuesday.
Global shipper FedEx Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!fdx (84.16, -0.12, -0.14%) and business software titan Oracle Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!orcl/quotes/nls/orcl ( 25.05, +0.72, +2.96%) are on tap for Thursday. Oracle, which recently hired ousted Hewlett-Packard /quotes/comstock/13*!hpq/quotes/nls/hpq ( 38.28, -0.54, -1.39%) executive Mark Hurd, is expected to report sharp gains in profit and sales.
Through Thursday, blended share-weighted earnings for the S&P 500 for 2010's second quarter stood at $200.3 billion, above the prior week's $199.8 billion, according to research compiled by Thomson Reuters analyst Christine Short.
Of the 496 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings for the quarter, 75% have posted earnings that topped analyst expectations.

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