Markets close March with Small Rally

The Dow ended up 46 points during the Monday session putting its March totals at -3.5 points or a whopping -0.03%. A similar story for the Nasdaq as the 18 point positive day put its month returns at +7 points or +0.3%. Not exactly eye opening moves for a month long period that saw some heavy volatility, especially in the Financial and Energy sectors.

Making news in market action today were a couple Drug names as Vytorin, a cholesterol drug from Merck (MRK) and Schering-Plough (SGP), was mixed-up in a high-stakes sales and research scandal. News came out that an investigation into the drug research revealed the companies delayed and withheld information about the drug due to its potential impact on sales. It goes without saying that the research in question was overtly negative towards the drug.

Investors don't like scandals and the resulting publicity and sales hit was taken harshly as Merck was hit by 15% while Schering-Plough fell 24%. The resulting sell-off made some Pharma-Sector money move around with a main beneficiary today being Pfizer (PFE), with its own set of positive news, up 2%.

Disclosure: Author owns PFE

Earnings Week Preview Oct 15 - Oct 19

Busy crop of earnings lie ahead as Major Technology firms and the Financials are set to report quarterly numbers. Citigroup (C) is up first on Monday followed by Bank Of America (BAC) Thursday. The Internet giants lead Technology into the full earnings swing as Yahoo (YHOO), eBay (EBAY) and Google (GOOG) all report on consecutive days.

The Biggest mobile phone maker Nokia (NOK) will have investor eyes squarely on it Thursday and big Bio Techs Pfizer (PFE) and Genentech (DNA) also square off this week. The extended rally since the Fed rate cute has pushed investor confidence higher but it has also made for some weary trading as even slight earnings upside may not be enough to push stocks much higher past record levels.

As Technology has led the rally of late, all eyes seem to be on those uber-growth firms, and whether they can maintain their lofty valuations by trumping street expectations for yet another quarter.

Earnings Week: July 16-20

Earnings season has gotten underway in full swing in the American markets.

Weekly earnings that are of note:

July 17th
Intel (INTC) : Expected $0.19/share
Merrill Lynch (MER): Expected $2.02/share
Coca-Cola (KO): Expected $0.82/share
Yahoo (YHOO): Expected $0.11/share

July 18th
Altria (MO): Expected $1.13/share
eBay (EBAY): Expected $0.32/share
JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Expected $1.08/share
Pfizer (PFE): Expected $0.50/share

July 19th
Banc Of America (BAC): Expected $1.20/share
Broadcom (BRCM): Expected $0.27/share
Google (GOOG): Expected $ 3.59/share
Microsoft (MSFT): Expected $0.31/share

July 20th
Citigroup (C): Expected $1.13/share
Wachovia (WB): Expected $1.22/share

complete earnings schedule available at Yahoo Finance
http://biz.yahoo.com/research/earncal/20070716.html

It'll be a big week for financials and banking as investors will get to see how munch of an effect the sub-prime meltdown spillover has continued to have. Also a big week for technology, specifically in the Internet space as Google will once again be in a position to overshadow Yahoo and Microsoft in the search earnings space.