The Day Ahead - Snow Day

By The Greek - Economy & Markets:

Visit the front pages of Wall Street Greek and Market Moving News to see our current coverage of economic reports and financial markets.

Due to pressing work specific to Sundays, we were limited in our production of the week ahead article. It is forthcoming, but we wanted to prepare you for the day ahead.

Twelve inches of snow are expected in New York City Monday, as a freak storm reminds the Northeast that winter is not quite through yet. This is the kind of storm that immobilizes the financial capital of the world. However, NYC is a special city with a subterranean transit system that keeps it moving when other places are greatly delayed. That said, most companies allow employs a few extra hours arrival time, and they usually need at least that much time to get in from outlying regions.

Monday

A very interesting economic week kicks off with an important monthly report. The Personal Income and Spending Report is due for January. After dropping by a full percentage point in December, spending is seen growing by 0.4% in January. The market is starving for positive data, so if not for the pending catastrophic employment report on Friday, we might have foreseen a rally off of this report.

Personal income is expected to have fallen by 0.2% in January, after a similar slip in December. While this is not good news, it's to be expected considering the pay cuts that are occurring at non-union shops like Toyota (NYSE: TM) and soon at union organized firms as well. Also, as firms offer higher paid employees retirement options, and lay off many others, they're able to cut their average pay alongside total costs.

The Core PCE Price Index, a good inflation metric, is expected to have risen by 0.1% and 1.8% on a month-to-month and year-to-year basis, respectively. The yearly rate was a bit lower in December, at 1.7%.

ISM issues its manufacturing index at 10:00 AM, and Bloomberg's survey of economists indicates it will continue to highlight economic contraction. The reading is expected to slip to 33.8 for February, from 35.6 in January. A reading below 50 indicates contraction, and this is to be expected now of course.

Construction Spending is expected lower by 1.5% in January, after a 1.4% fall in December. Many view the fiscal stimulus effort likely to inject housing with stability around mid-year. New incentives and low mortgage rates offer reason to start thinking about housing stabilization and later recovery.

A couple of Fed heads are set to speak on Monday. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker and Boston Fed Chief Eric Rosengren address the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) in the early afternoon.

In scheduled corporate events, Genentech (NYSE: DNA) will meet with investors. The EPS schedule highlights news from ABM Industries (NYSE: ABM), Allied Capital (NYSE: ALD), Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB), Allied Motion Technologies (Nasdaq: AMOT), Alphatec (Nasdaq: ATEC), American Capital (Nasdaq: ACAS), American Int'l Group (NYSE: AIG), American Physicians (Nasdaq: AMPH), Ares Capital (Nasdaq: ARCC), Arts Way (Nasdaq: ARTW), Atlas America (Nasdaq: ATLS), Atlas Pipeline (NYSE: AHD), ATP Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: ATPG), Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB), BPZ Resources (NYSE: BPZ), Breitburn Energy (Nasdaq: BBEP), Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD), Carol's Restaurant (Nasdaq: TAST), Cellcom Israel (Nasdaq: CEL), Central European Distribution (Nasdaq: CEDC), China Medical (Nasdaq: CMED), Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO), Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao (NYSE: CBD), Conseco (NYSE: CNO), Crosstex Energy (Nasdaq: XTXI), Crosstex LP (Nasdaq: XTEX), DISH Network (Nasdaq: DISH), Dynamics Research (Nasdaq: DRCO), Dynavax (Nasdaq: DVAX), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Echostar (Nasdaq: SATS), Edison Int'l (NYSE: EIX), Einstein Noah Restaurant (Nasdaq: BAGL), First Industrial Realty (NYSE: FR), First United (Nasdaq: FUNC), Franklin Electric (Nasdaq: FELE), FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN), Hospitality Properties (NYSE: HPT), HSBC Finance (NYSE: HTB), Immersion (Nasdaq: IMMR), Integra Bank (Nasdaq: IBNK), InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC), IPC, The Hospitalist Co. (Nasdaq: IPCM), iPCS (Nasdaq: IPCS), KKR Financial (NYSE: KFN), LeapFrog (NYSE: LF), Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), Maguire Properties (NYSE: MPG), MarkWest Energy (NYSE: MWE), MasTec (NYSE: MTZ), McDermott Int'l (NYSE: MDR), Nelnet (NYSE: NNI), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), OSG America L.P. (NYSE: OSP), Par Pharmaceutical (NYSE: PRX), PDL BioPharma (Nasdaq: PDLI), Pengrowth Energy (NYSE: PGH), Pepco Holdings (NYSE: POM), Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD), Petroleum Development (Nasdaq: PETD), PHH Corp. (NYSE: PHH), Regency Energy (Nasdaq: RGNC), Reliant Energy (NYSE: RRI), Rosetta Resources (Nasdaq: ROSE), Sadia (NYSE: SDA), San Juan Basin Royalty (NYSE: SJT), Sun Hydraulics (Nasdaq: SNHY), Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE: SRZ), SuperGen (Nasdaq: SUPG), Sykes Enterprises (Nasdaq: SYKE), T-3 Energy (Nasdaq: TTES), TIVO (Nasdaq: TIVO), TNS Inc. (NYSE: TNS), Tower Group (Nasdaq: TWGP), TravelCenters of America (AMEX: TA), UTEK (AMEX: UTK), VisionChina Media (Nasdaq: VISN), VocalTec Communications (Nasdaq: VOCL), Warren Resources (Nasdaq: WRES), Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) and more.

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. (Article interests: AMEX: DIA, AMEX: SPY, Nasdaq: QQQQ, NYSE: NYX, AMEX: DOG, AMEX: SDS, AMEX: QLD, AMEX: XLF, AMEX: IWM, AMEX: TWM, AMEX: IWD, AMEX: SDK)