Notes on week of the 18th May 2009 market

MarketWatch.com May 16, 2009, 11:16 a.m. EST

A light economic calendar next week will provide few clues for investors to make up their minds.

On Monday will be the May housing market index from the National Association of Home Builders.
Tuesday will bring April housing starts and building permits.
On Wednesday, investors will parse economic projections from the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last monetary policy meeting in late April.
Thursday will bring weekly jobless claims, a manufacturing index for May from the Philadelphia region, along with leading economic indicators for April.
Ablin also notes that massive amounts of cash remain stuffed in money market funds, which could provide much needed fuel for the rally.
With 461 of S&P 500 companies having already reported, earnings are expected to be down 35.6% from the year earlier quarter, according to Thomson Financial.
Of companies that have reported, 65% have beat estimates, 9% have matched, and 26% have missed.
Actual results have come in 7% above estimates, the first time Thomson's "surprise factor" is positive in almost a year and a half.
"Companies have not only beaten the estimates, but by a pretty wide margins this quarter," said John Butters, earnings analyst at Thomson.
And for the second quarter, earnings are expected to have fallen 35.9% from the year earlier, while the ratio of negative to positive pre-announcements has returned to 2 to 1, its long term average.

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