Corporate earnings are the latest hurdle for a stock market that has been navigating an environment of slowing growth.
In the coming week, the second quarterearnings season kicks off with just a few reports, but they will be important early looks at whether the fallout from Europe and the slower global growth is hurting corporate America. Alcoa [AA 8.725 
-0.195 (-2.19%) 
] is first out on Monday, followed by an interim report from Chevron [CVX 105.07 -0.96 (-0.91%) ] Wednesday. Results Friday are expected from JPMorgan [JPM 33.90 -0.48 (-1.4%) ], which was hit by a controversial derivatives trading loss, totaling billions.
After Friday’s disappointing U.S. June payrolls, jobs-related data, such as Thursday’s weekly jobless claims, will be monitored, as will the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting Wednesday. But more important, perhaps, is a batch of fresh Chinese data, starting off Monday with inflation and export data, and winding down Friday with GDP, retail sales, and industrial output.
“There’s a number of things to worry about in the earnings reports. We had downward revisions in the GDP number in the second quarter, which bothers me,” said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist with Wells Capital Management. “That generally leads to disappointing earnings numbers. My biggest concern for the S&P 500, is that the (dollar index) is up more than 5 percent in the quarter. That might take on significance.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48097817
