earnings preview

Even as investors reel from the stock-market roller coaster this week, Wall Street is moving on, with plenty of news on the way. Next week will bring headlines about retail and gaming earnings, as well as quarterly reports from News Corp., SodaStream and some newly public Chinese firms.

Or will it disappoint? Investors -- and taxpayers -- will be watching on Thursday, when GM posts its latest earnings. Despite analyst expectations of a full-year profit, the automaker has warned that fourth-quarter results will fall "significantly" from previous periods.

The Japanese automaker's bottom line is likely to have been hit by its many safety recalls, weaker U.S. sales and Japan's rising currency. Analysts forecast Toyota will report a quarterly profit of about $1 billion on sales of $56.2 billion.

Analysts forecast that Ford will announce a profit of 48 cents a share on revenue of about $30.6 billion when it releases earnings on Friday. That translates into an expected pretax profit of $8 billion in 2010, the best Ford has seen since 1999.

Amazon.com on Thursday announced it is buying Lovefilm, a European home-video distributor that some have called the Netflix of Europe. The deal will give the world's largest online retailer a stronger foothold in digital-video distribution. Will it buy Netflix next?

The new year's first week will be busy. Due out on Friday is December's umemployment rate, and the consensus is for it to drop to 9.7%. However, few expect real improvement until well into 2011. Also on tap: weekly and monthly chain-store sales, FOMC minutes, ISM services report and more.

Even as the year winds to a close this week, a handful of economic releases are on the schedule. Starting on Monday, the Chicago Fed releases its Midwest Manufacturing Index for November. Then we'll see consumer confidence, jobless claims and more.

A quiet week for earnings, along with new reports on consumer credit, consumer sentiment, economic optimism, wholesale trade, the U.S. trade balance and federal budget balance, should give the stock markets a chance to settle down after last week's volatility.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) said sales at stores open at least one year rose 9% in the four weeks ending Nov. 28, compared with the same period a year ago. Comparable sales in the U.S. rose 7%, while comparable sales at international stores gained 13%, the company said in a statement. For the...

Deere & Co. (DE) reported earnings of $1.07 per share for the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with a loss of 53 cents per share a year ago. The earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 included charges worth 76 cents per share related to the impairment of goodwill and voluntary employee...