Countdown to FOMC meeting.

A week before the Federal Reserve meets to discuss monetary policy and cut interest rates once again, the economic calendar looks extremely light.

Two important trends to watch in the coming weeks are whether the poor earnings news extends beyond financials and businesses with strong ties to housing, and how much foreign demand is helping the bottom lines of multinationals.

Amid the profit reports, the economic data is likely to show that one of the primary factors hurting profits persist. Existing home sales are expected to keep falling.

ICSC-UBS STORE SALES - Tuesday, Jan. 22, 7:45 a.m. EST
This weekly tracking of retail sales, compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS bank, will present sales results for the week ended Jan. 19

JOHNSON REDBOOK INDEX - Tuesday, Jan. 22, 8:55 a.m. EST

This weekly measure of retail activity will report on sales for the second fiscal week of January, ending Jan. 19.

RICHMOND FED SURVEY - Tuesday, Jan. 22, 10 a.m. EST

The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank releases its survey of manufacturing activity for January. In line with other regional and national factory reports.

MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS - Wednesday, Jan. 23, 7 a.m. EST

The Mortgage Bankers Association releases its mortgage Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey of home buying and refinancing application activity for the week ending Jan. 18

MEETINGS OF NOTE
Thursday, Jan. 24, 8:30 a.m. EST - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet speak on risk and the financial system at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
8:30 a.m. EST - Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks about the global economy at a BMO Financial Group event in Vancouver, Canada.

JOBLESS CLAIMS - Thursday, Jan. 24, 8:30 a.m. EST

EXISTING HOME SALES - Thursday, Jan. 24, 10 a.m. EST

Earnings Calendar
Tuesday
Apple, Bank of America, BJ Services, CSX, Eaton, Du Pont, Fifth Third Bancorp, Johnson & Johnson, Keycorp, Meredith, Norfolk Southern, Regions Financial, Tellabs, Texas Instruments, UnitedHealth Group, Wachovia, Waters
Wednesday
Abbott Laboratories, Air Products & Chemicals, Allegheny Technologies, Capital One Financial, Citrix Systems, ConocoPhillips, eBay, Exelon, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, General Dynamics, Gilead Sciences, Hudson City Bancorp, Kimberly-Clark, LSI, McCormick & Co, Motorola, Noble, Pactiv, Pfizer, Praxair, QLogic, Qualcomm, Rockwell Automation, SLM, Southwest Airlines, St. Jude Medical, Stryker, SunTrust Banks, Symantec, Teradyne, Total System Services, United Technologies, Varian Medical Systems, WellPoint
Thursday
Ameriprise Financial, AmerisourceBergen, Amgen, Applied Biosystems Group, AT&T, Ball, Baxter International, Becton Dickinson & Co, Broadcom, Compuware, Consolidated Edison, Cooper Industries, Danaher, E*Trade Financial, Eastman Chemical, Federated Investors, Franklin Resources, Hartford Financial Services Group, Janus Capital Group, Juniper Networks, Leggett & Platt, Lennar, Lockheed Martin, McGraw-Hill, MEMC Electronic Materials, Microsoft, National City, Nucor, Rockwell Collins, Sovereign Bancorp, Sun Microsystems, Textron, Union Pacific, UST, Xerox, Zions Bancorporation
Friday
Caterpillar, Commerce Bancorp, Harley-Davidson, Honeywell International, Weatherford International, WW Grainger

All financial markets will be closed on Monday, Jan. 21 in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.( http://www.mlkday.gov/) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Day)

Tracking Friday 18th,Dow intraday.

A rebound at the opening bell sparked by profit reports from IBM (IBM), General Electric (GE), and others fizzled ahead of the extended holiday weekend.

A plan unveiled by President Bush to stimulate the economy caused some initial disappointment among investors.

Bush's plan will focus on individual tax cuts, not spending increases, largely expected to be $800 per individual and $1600 per family. The total stimulus will be set to about 1% of GDP ($145 billion).

When the President opens his mouth at around 10:15am,the market got hammered down right up till the time he stop harping!..and that was around 12:00 noon.He needs to brush his teeth next time before he starts making his speech otherwise Colgate-palmolive will not generate enough sales and will report poor earnings to signal a recession.

At the close was a flat four-legged doji resting on top of a bull's horn.It is getting ready to leap up.

This time around Asian markets might take over the wheels to lead the race.