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Bank of America Corp. responded Tuesday to conflicting reports of branch closings by saying that the company has not made any final decisions.

In a statement , Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) said it continually evaluates its banking franchise but that decisions about its ultimate size have not been made.

Earlier Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America’s chief executive Kenneth Lewis told investors at a meeting last week that the company was planning to cut its branch network by 10%.

Later, bank spokesman James Mahoney told Reuters that the bank’s 6,109 branch-network "will come down modestly" in size over three to five years, even as the bank builds new branches.

"We do not have a plan to reduce branches by 10%," Mahoney said.

The company said its banking centers are the "cornerstone of the company’s distribution model" but added that customers are shifting toward mobile and online services business card templates.

"We are continually improving our online banking, mobile banking and ATM capabilities as more of our customers are using these channels for increased convenience."

Earlier this month, Bank of America reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. It was a bit of good news in a tough year for the company, which needed to accept $45 billion in government aid in the thick of the financial crisis and had CEO Kenneth Lewis step down as chairman for his handling of last year’s merger with Merrill Lynch.

Shares of Bank of America stock were up 31 cents to $13.40.  

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Gasoline prices fell more than 7 cents a gallon over the past two weeks, despite a rise in crude oil prices, according to a survey published Sunday.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline at metropolitan-area stations was $2.4859, the Lundberg Survey found — a decline of 7.14 cents from two weeks ago. That drop came despite an $8-per-gallon rise in the price of crude oil in that period, said survey publisher Trilby Lundberg.

"The price would have risen instead of falling … if not for profit-margin losses for refiners and retailers," she said. "Both refiners and gasoline retailers failed to pass through the higher oil prices and instead took cuts in their own margins."

Poor demand for gasoline because of rising unemployment was one reason the refiners and retailers absorbed the cuts, she said.

But she added they "can’t hold out forever."

"They will need to pass on to consumers through the system at least a dime’s worth of oil price pressure," she said.

"I think that it will be soon," she added. "For example, even if crude prices slip back slightly I think we can expect a gentle rise in retail gasoline," both because of the current thin market levels and the usual lag time for price rises to work through the system advance payday loans.

In fact, the daily gas price survey conducted for motorist group AAA has shown the national average for regular has risen the past five days. On Sunday, it was up 1.1 cents to $2.492 a gallon.

The current prices are $1.51 per gallon below where they were a year ago, Lundberg said. On July 29, 2008, the average price was $3.9959 a gallon, down from that summer’s peak of $4.1124.

The city with the lowest average price in the latest survey was Jackson, Miss., with $2.22 a gallon for regular self-serve. The highest average was in Honolulu, at $3.03, Lundberg said.

Here are the average prices in some other cities: Houston, $2.29; Tucson, Ariz., $2.30; Little Rock, Ark., $2.33; Atlanta, $2.35; Cleveland, $2.40; Detroit, $2.43; Minneapolis, $2.49; Hartford, Conn., $2.55; Portland, Ore., $2.60; San Diego, $2.76. 

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The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance rose last week, but the jump could be due to continued volatility from the auto industry meltdown.

There were 554,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 18, up 30,000 from an upwardly-revised 524,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report released Thursday.

The number was slightly lower than the 557,000 consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 566,000, down 19,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 585,000.

In a research note, Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics noted the jump "reflects the seasonal adjustment problems" seen last week when initial claims hit a 6-month low.

Last Thursday, the Labor Department warned that in their adjustments, government statisticians try to predict the timing of auto industry layoffs — many of which usually occur in the first two weeks of July. But this year, many of those layoffs occurred earlier.

"Hence, seasonally adjusted claims plunged," Shepherdson wrote. "Now this effect is reversing."

Shepherdson said he expected "another hefty rise in claims next week," with total initial claims rising back above 600,000 before stabilizing over the next few weeks fast payday loan no faxing.

Continuing claims: The government said 6,225,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended July 11, the most recent data available. That’s down 88,000 from the preceding week’s revised 6,313,000 claims.

The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims fell to 6,541,500, down 132,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,674,000.

The initial claims number identifies those filing for their first week of unemployment benefits. Continuing claims reflect people filing each week after their initial claim until the end of their standard benefits, which usually last 26 weeks.

The figures do not include those who have moved to state or federal extensions, nor people whose benefits have expired.

State-by-state data: Six states reported initial claims fell by more than 1,000 in the week ended July 11, the most recent data available. Michigan’s claims fell the most, by 6,648.

Conversely, 23 states reported claims increased by more than 1,000. New York reported the most new claims, at 12,504, which the state said was due to layoffs in the construction, service and transportation industries. 

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and legislators aren’t ready to confront those details.

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By Jia Lynn Yang, writer

Last Updated: July 22, 2009: 3:48 PM ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) — President Obama’s rush to rescue his health-care plan is coming just in time, because its critics are starting to give it a bad rap.

On Monday, the Republican National Committee unveiled an ad that lumps the President’s health-care reform efforts with the bank and auto bailouts. As forlorn looking children stare back at the camera, a voice intones that Obama’s plan is simply a "massive spending experiment" — yet another risky, big-ticket item that will leave a burden on future generations. In short, critics say, it’s all getting too expensive.

Obama never promised that a lofty goal like providing affordable health care to all Americans wouldn’t cost anything — he pledged only that the reform will pay for itself, meaning it won’t deepen the federal deficit.

The President’ pitch. Tonight at his news conference, Obama will have to restate the case for why increased spending will be worth it. At last count, the Democrats’ health-care reforms will cost at least $1 trillion for the first 10 years. Obama has argued that over the longer run, the changes will lower health-care spending so it stops being a giant drag on the country’s economic resources. The latter is what he calls "bending the curve."

What Congress is debating with increasing intensity, up against Obama’s hope of getting both houses of Congress to pass a measure before their August recess, is how to cover this $1 trillion price tag. Opponents of the emerging plans were emboldened last week by a report from the Congressional Budget Office that showed the plans would not accomplish their stated goal of significantly reducing federal health spending. However, the plans that Congress handed Douglas Elmendorf, the head of the CBO, have yet to include some of the bolder proposals that will curb costs life insurance.

Finding any savings to pay for the reforms is bound to anger someone, which is why Congress has yet to confront all the details about where to cut. "Waste is income for other people," says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "When you find the waste — and there’s much, clearly — that’s all income for someone, whether it’s the drug companies, the medical supply industry, doctors who might be paid too much for some procedures. Every single one has someone behind it who will fight to their last breath to keep Congress from taking them away."

Funding quandary. The Democrats can account for about half the $1 trillion cost with policies like reducing subsidies to private insurers who serve Medicare patients. The last stretch, however, will probably entail tax increases. Towards this end, House Democrats last week proposed a surtax of as much as 5.4% on income above $350,000 a year.

The idea is suffering a backlash, not just on behalf of high-income taxpayers but also on philosophical grounds. "We can’t fund a broad-based policy with a targeted tax," says William Gale, director of the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. "It doesn’t make sense, and it’s bad health-care policy." Gale adds that a surtax on the rich is politically unstable, since the moment the Republicans take over Congress again, they’ll probably roll back the taxes, leaving health care unfunded. (There are also other reasons why taxing the rich exclusively might be less than ideal.)

Gale, along with many health-care experts, points instead to limiting tax exclusion for employer-provided health benefits, since it not only helps pay for the reform but also discourages wasteful spending. Unions strongly oppose the measure, and Obama has signaled that he backs them, but there could still be room for a deal in which the cap is kept very high and would affect only a small portion of the workforce.

Blue Dog dilemma. Conservative Democrats are especially leery of the revenue-raising ideas — many are freshman who don’t want to be tarred with the "tax and spend" brush. These Democrats, known as the Blue Dogs, have triggered speculation that if they don’t move with their party leadership, they could sink the whole effort. However, dissent doesn’t always spell doom when it comes to the legislative process. As long as there’s a bottom-line conviction from these Democrats that the status quo of the health-care system is unsustainable, and a commitment to finding cost savings, they may stay on board.

"I wouldn’t read too much into one day’s events. There are going to be bumps along the road that may require us to turn around and reprogram our GPS," says Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, who is president of the freshman class and opposes taxing employee health benefits to help pay for reform. He suggests extracting more concessions from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries instead.

"One of the advantages of having a system that’s as inefficient as ours," says Baker, "is that over the next decade, we’re going to spend somewhere around $30 trillion on health care. The idea that you have to dig up $200 billion to $300 billion in savings doesn’t sound like that hard a task to make [reform] deficit neutral."

As Congress hammers out the details and Obama steps into the fray, what looks like a bill on the verge of failure may turn out to be legislative business as usual — it’s just inherently a messy process. As Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) recently said on ABC’s "This Week," "If this were easy, it would have been done decades ago." 

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An index gauging the U.S. economy’s prospects increased for a third straight month in June, suggesting the recession was drawing to a close, a private research firm said Monday.

The index of leading economic indicators, which is supposed to forecast economic trends six to nine months ahead, rose 0.7% in June following a revised 1.3% gain in May, the New York-based Conference Board said.

Wall Street economists had forecast a rise of 0.5% after an initial 1.2% May increase.

Over the first half of the year, the index has increased at a 4 cash loans.1% annual rate, the research group said.

"The recession has been losing steam since the spring, although very large job losses continue," Ken Goldstein, a Conference Board economist, said in a statement. "Nevertheless, confidence is slowly rebuilding."

"If these trends continue, expect a slow recovery this autumn," he said. 

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and expensive

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — Bank of America joined the ranks of big banks posting better-than-expected first-half profits this week.

The Charlotte, N.C., bank posted second-quarter earnings of $3.2 billion, or 33 cents a share Friday. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) made $3.4 billion, or 72 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2008.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for a profit of 28 cents a share.

BofA chief executive Ken Lewis said he was "pleased" with the progress the bank has made in its operations over the course of a "tumultuous" year. He also cited BofA’s success in raising new capital.

And in a statement Friday, the bank noted that its cushion against future losses gives BofA its "strongest capital position in recent memory."

Lewis told investors on a Friday morning conference call that he expects the bank’s loan losses to grow at a slower rate in coming quarters. But he added that profitability will be "much tougher in the second half of the year," given high unemployment and falling house prices, as well as the absence of one-time gains that padded first-half numbers.

Fans of the stock were buoyed by signs that credit losses may soon peak. Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck, who rates the stock an "overweight", focused on signs that the growth of nonperforming loans is slowing — which should bring down credit costs and boost earnings in coming quarters.

She counseled clients to "buy on weakness" in spite of soft second-quarter net interest income and fee numbers, saying in a research note that the deceleration in nonperforming loans should lead to higher earnings growth over the next year.

Even so, shares of BofA fell 2% Friday.

The solid report from BofA comes on the heels of strong numbers out this week from BofA rival JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and trading titan Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500).

Like those two, Bank of America benefited from heavier second-quarter trading activity. Global markets earnings jumped to $1.38 billion from $298 million a year earlier, reflecting the addition of the capital markets business of investment bank Merrill Lynch in the latest period affordable car insurance.

Profit in the global banking unit rose to $2.49 billion from $1.43 billion a year earlier, as the company took a $3.8 billion pretax gain on the sale of a merchant processing business and recorded higher fees in its investment banking business, even as it surrendered some market share during the first half to JPMorgan.

And BofA continues to draw in new deposits. The bank’s average retail deposit base rose 26% from a year ago, mostly reflecting the acquisitions of Merrill Lynch and mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Deposits rose 6% from a year ago at the core BofA franchise.

But BofA’s big credit card business swung to a second-quarter loss of $1.62 billion from a profit of $582 million a year ago, as the amount the bank set aside for credit losses soared 82%. Meanwhile, the home loans unit led by the former Countrywide posted a $725 million second-quarter loss, as loan loss provisions jumped 34%.

All told, the bank set aside $13.4 billion for credit costs, flat with first-quarter levels. This included a $4.7 billion addition to loan loss reserves. Nonperforming assets rose 20% from the first quarter, to $31 billion.

Still, the better-than-expected overall profit comes at a welcome time for Lewis, BofA’s longtime CEO. He has come under fire from shareholders over the past year for the acquisitions of the deeply troubled Countrywide and Merrill Lynch.

BofA’s poor performance in the past year — the firm has needed $45 billion in loans from the Treasury Department to cope with losses — and the hubbub over the Merrill deal cost Lewis his chairmanship this spring.

Congress has held three hearings on the behind-the-scenes jockeying that took place in December, in which then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Lewis he would be sacked if he walked away from Merrill as losses there soared.

Meanwhile, shareholders continue to pay for the support the bank has taken from taxpayers. While profits fell just over 5% in the second quarter, per-share earnings tumbled 54%, reflecting the blizzard of shares issued in recent capital raises and the cost of preferred stock dividends paid to Treasury.

That said, the banking industry has appeared to stabilize following a round of capital-raising this spring. BofA has raised some $33 billion in recent months, and the bank’s shares have quadrupled off their March lows.  

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Home mortgage rates saw an up-and-down week but ended almost unchanged, according to a report released Thursday.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage slipped to 5.58% from 5.59% the week prior, and the 15-year fixed held at 4.93%.

The lack of change belies rates’ "yo-yo movement" over the week, said the weekly national survey from Bankrate.com.

"It was an active week for mortgage rates," the report added. "After first declining on continued economic weakness, mortgage rates reversed ground following corporate earnings that weren’t as bad as feared."

As a result, investors have flocked to the safety of government and mortgage-backed bonds. Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government debt.

Volatility is likely to continue amid uncertain recovery sentiment and mixed economic data, the report warned.

Current rates remain much lower than last year’s levels, when the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6 payday loans in one hour.42%, according to Bankrate.com.

At the current rate of 5.58%, the monthly payment on a $200,000 mortgage would be $1,145.63, or about $108 less than the monthly payment at last year’s rate.

Adjustable-rate mortgages: ARMs continue to post mixed results, the report said, with the average 1-year ARM rising to 5.22% from 5.18%, and the 5-year ARM falling to 4.98% from 5.05%.

Have you exhausted your unemployment benefits? We want to hear about your experiences. E-mail your story to realstories@cnnmoney.com and you could be part of an upcoming article. For the CNNMoney.com Comment Policy, click here.  

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The small business credit market is about to take another major hit. Six weeks after Advanta abruptly froze all of its 1 million credit-card accounts, lending giant CIT Group faces potential bankruptcy.

Following a flurry of media speculation, the ailing company announced late Wednesday that it would not receive government assistance. CIT said on its Web site that it is "evaluating alternatives."

Over the past nine months, the one-time financial services powerhouse has all but ceased making new loans, which left small business advocates and owners with mixed feelings about whether CIT should be left to fail.

CIT was historically the biggest issuer of Small Business Administration-backed loans, topping the agency’s lender list year after year. Last year, it made 1,195 loans through the SBA’s 7(a) program, totaling $766.6 million.

But in the wake of the credit crisis that followed Lehman Brothers’ September collapse, CIT’s lending came to a standstill. Since October, CIT (CIT, Fortune 500) has funded fewer than 100 SBA loans, totaling $65.7 million.

"In order to service its debt and meet obligations, [CIT] has been cutting back on new originations," explains David Chiaverini, research analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

CIT CEO Jeffrey Peek said in November that his company was "the bridge between Wall Street and Main Street," and "one of the few significant sources of liquidity for small and mid-sized businesses who are struggling to survive." But by then, CIT was already burning down its bridge, turning away many of the small businesses that had come to rely on the company.

Craig Moore is president of CiCi Enterprises, a pizza franchisor based in Coppell, Texas. CIT Group was CiCi’s go-to lender for financing new franchises.

"We had used them quite a bit in the past years because they made the process easy to get through. But at the end of last year, they tightened so quick they almost stopped lending to us overnight," Moore says.

Moore had 300 franchise candidates in the pipeline. Very suddenly, half of them couldn’t get loans and became non-viable, including 16 that had been working with CIT. Moore says some are still hanging on, hoping the credit markets loosen up, while other potential owners are tapping family and friends for startup money.

"We had a goal of building 80 stores this year and we may end up with 40. That drop is due to the financing issues," says Moore. "On a bigger scale, that’s 40 stores which each could have hired 35 employees."

Diverse financial services

CIT wasn’t just known for its startup loans. It also provided loans and lines of credit to existing small businesses. If the company falls into bankruptcy, those credit lines may vanish.

J.P. Morgan’s analysts estimate that CIT had $1.5 billion in unfunded commitments in March, primarily comprising untapped credit lines and other guarantees that customers could draw down if they chose. That’s a big deal for affected business, but it’s a comparatively small amount in the overall lending landscape. When Advanta froze its small business credit cards, it had about $5 billion in outstanding balances.

CIT is also a major player in factor financing. Factoring companies buy invoices from manufactures and retailers, immediately paying them a portion of the invoices’ face value and assuming the task — and the risk — of collecting payments from customers. For businesses that can’t afford to wait, factoring offers fast access to operating cash.

CIT Trade Finance processed a factoring volume of $8.3 billion in the first quarter of 2009, but there too, signs of the company’s cutbacks are showing. CIT’s factoring volume dropped 21% from the same quarter a year earlier, which the company attributed to the weakened retail environment.

If CIT now falls into bankruptcy, its factoring clients will need to find a new lender. Some may also be left chasing CIT for unpaid balances cash advance no fax. As of March 31, CIT held $2.7 billion in credit balances for its factoring client, according to an SEC filing.

Robert Saquet, president of Eggers Furniture, a retail store in Middleboro, Mass., is wondering how his shop will be affected if CIT disappears from the factoring market.

"Many manufacturers would not be able to stay in business without a factor creating immediate cash flow," Saquet says. Three of his largest suppliers use CIT as a factor. "Without a source of cash, they would have to demand pre-payment from retail stores. Retail stores are struggling and are not able to get the credit to raise more cash, so they would have to stop buying from factories that are not able to extend terms."

Soaring defaults

Small companies have been hit hard by the recession, and CIT is suffering in tandem with those it serves. Defaults and delinquencies are rising as cash-strapped business owners fall behind on their bills. Meanwhile, the value of the collateral pledged against CIT’s loans is deteriorating, as home and commercial real-estate prices plunge.

"The weak economic environment had a much greater impact on certain segments of our corporate loans portfolio than we have anticipated previously," CIT CEO Peek told analysts in a conference call to discuss the company’s most recent quarterly results.

CIT received $2.3 billion in TARP money in December and converted itself into a bank-holding company. But other help from the federal government has been elusive. CIT applied in January for access to a debt-guarantee program run by the FDIC, but its application has been left languishing. Analysts say there’s little chance at this point that it will be approved.

BMO Capital Markets’ Chiaverini sees bankruptcy as CIT’s most likely next step.

"The best case for CIT is to get its liquidity issues resolved — bankruptcy could actually get things back to normal on the lending front," he says. "If it does go into bankruptcy, I think what will happen is unsecured debt holders will convert their debt into equity and it will emerge stronger without the overhang of debt coming due. Then, it can start lending again."

Some small business advocates had been crossing their fingers for a bailout. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the International Franchise Association said that "we are very concerned that allowing CIT to enter bankruptcy will send the wrong signal to small businesses on Main Street."

CIT’s financing volume is way down this year, but in past years it has been "one of, if not the, top lenders to the franchise industry," says IFA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison.

Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, also issued a statement urging government assistance. "CIT’s unique ability to work with new entrepreneurs and small business owners trying to expand their businesses will be impossible to duplicate," he said. "If our hard-earned tax dollars are going to be used to save financial institutions, we should use those funds to save firms like CIT that have a 100-year track record of helping those small businesses where most Americans work."

CIT’s role in small business financing will be hard to fill, but for many companies, the damage is already happening. Saving CIT would only help Main Street businesses if the company became healthy enough to resume making loans.

CiCi’s President Moore is pleased that the government will not prop up CIT. Still, he realizes that his company’s fortunes are tied to those of CIT and its Wall Street brethren.

"A business will last only if it learns to live within rules," he says. "But I hope they come back alive, because then there’s a better chance we will flourish." 

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JPMorgan Chase & Co posted a higher quarterly profit on Thursday, topping Wall Street estimates, as strength in its core consumer and investment banking businesses offset a jump in credit losses.

Second-quarter net income rose to $2.72 billion from $2 billion a year earlier, while net revenue jumped 41 percent to $27.71 billion.

Profit per share fell to 28 cents from 53 cents, due in part to an increase in shares outstanding.

The bank said it set aside $9.7 billion for credit losses, up from $4.29 billion a year earlier but down from the first quarter’s $10.07 billion.

JPMorgan last month repaid $25 billion taken from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and is the largest U.S. bank to repay federal bailout money. It has said it will allow the Treasury Department to auction the attached stock warrants, rather than pay an inflated price to buy them back healthinsurance.

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement that the bank felt confident that its capital, reserve levels and earnings power are solid even if the economy weakens.

Second-quarter results included per-share charges of 27 cents relating to the TARP repayment, and 10 cents to bolster a federal deposit insurance program.

Analysts on average had expected profit of 4 cents per share on revenue of $25.91 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

JPMorgan shares closed Wednesday at $36.26 on the New York Stock Exchange. Through Wednesday, the shares had risen 15 percent this year, compared with a 14.4 percent decline in the KBW Bank Index.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by John Wallace)

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The spring stock market rally has lost momentum right as investors are primed to face another big hurdle: the start of the second-quarter reporting period.

A scant 6% of the S&P 500, or 31 companies, is due to report results this week. But the list includes major financials Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, along with tech leaders Google, Intel and IBM.

Currently, S&P earnings are expected to have declined 36% in the second quarter versus a year ago, according to the latest Thomson Reuters estimates. That means that barring some massive surprises, the S&P 500 is on track to post its eighth straight quarter of weaker profits, the longest streak since Thomson began tracking results in 1998.

Last quarter, analysts and corporations alike ratcheted down forecasts, setting up a period in which a greater percentage of companies than usual beat forecasts. But this quarter could be different. Fewer companies have been cutting forecasts and analysts haven’t budged as much either, giving corporations less of an opportunity to defy expectations.

"The question is whether we’ll see a similar surprise factor this time," said John Butters, senior research analyst at Thomson Reuters. "If companies haven’t cut and analysts haven’t cut, can results beat forecasts?"

One positive sign, he said: pre-announcements have skewed much more positive than negative.

Not as bad is no longer enough: Stocks rallied for three months, with the S&P 500 gaining 40% between March 9 and June 12, as investors breathed a sigh of relief that some economic reports indicated the pace of the recession was slowing.

But since then, stocks have slid, with the S&P 500 losing 7% and closing lower for four weeks straight as bets that the economy is stabilizing gave way to worries that the market got ahead of itself.

"After one of the most explosive three month rallies in a generation, the economy needs to step up and show it is indeed bottoming," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

"Should earnings season disappoint in any way, we could be due for a move back down near the March lows," he added.

Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) got the earnings ball rolling last week, reporting a smaller-than-expected loss, but a loss nonetheless. Shares of the aluminum maker initially surged, but soon sold off, ending the week lower as investors opted not to reward results that were merely "less bad" rather than good.

Materials are on track to see the worst quarter of any sector, Butters said. Materials are expected to post a 78% drop in profits versus a year ago, with steel and chemicals hit the hardest.

Energy is expected to see a year-over-year profit decline of 64%, reflecting the pullback in global commodity prices.

Financials are on track to post declines of 55% versus a year ago, due largely to expectations of weaker results from some of the major companies up at bat next week.

One "bright spot" is health care, Butters said, with the sector expected to see profits drop just 2% versus a year ago. That drop is the smallest of any of the S&P 500’s ten economic sectors. And if a few companies should top forecasts, healthcare earnings could even eke out a profit versus a year ago.

Results

Monday: Broker Charles Schwab (SCHW, Fortune 500), rail-freight company CSX (CSX, Fortune 500) and chipmaker Novellus Systems (NVLS) are all on the calendar, but the companies’ results don’t usually impact the broad market.

Tuesday: Before the start of trading, Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) is expected to report a profit of $3.48 per share, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. In the previous quarter - the first period Goldman reported as a bank-holding company - the company reported earnings of $3 fast cash advance.39 per share. Dow component Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500) is expected to report a profit of $1.11 per share versus $1.18 per share a year ago.

Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) reports after the close. The chipmaker is expected to have earned 7 cents per share, versus 28 cents a year earlier.

Wednesday: Airline AMR (AMR, Fortune 500) and chipmaker Xilinx (XLNX) are on the docket, but neither typically influence the direction of trading.

Thursday: JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) is expected to report a profit of 4 cents per share versus 54 cents a year ago.

After the close, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is expected to report a profit of $5.05 per share versus $4.63 a year ago. IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), a Dow component, is expected to say it earned $2.02 per share versus $1.98 a year ago.

Friday: Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) report results before the bell. Dow stock BofA is expected to have earned 24 cents versus 72 cents a year ago. Citigroup is expected to have lost 26 cents per share after losing 49 cents a year ago.

General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) also releases results in the morning. The Dow component is expected to have earned 23 cents per share versus 54 cents a year ago.

Economy

Monday: The June Treasury budget is due in the afternoon, although it’s not usually a market mover.

Tuesday: June retail sales are expected to have risen 0.5%, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. That would match May sales, which the Commerce Department said bumped 0.5% higher.

Retail sales including volatile autos are also expected to have edged up 0.5% in June, after rising the same amount in May. Sales excluding food and energy

The producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, is expected to have jumped 0.8% after rising 0.2% in May. So-called core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is expected to have risen 0.1% after falling 0.1%. The Labor Department report is due before the start of trading.

The May business inventories report is also due in the morning although it doesn’t tend to be a market mover.

Wednesday: The consumer price index (CPI), which measures consumer inflation, is expected to have risen 0.6% in June after gaining 0.1% in May. So-called core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is expected to have edged up 0.1% after carving out a slim 0.1% gain in May. The Labor Department report is due in the morning.

Also due Wednesday morning: the Empire manufacturing survey, a regional read on manufacturing; reports on industrial production and capacity utilization; and the government’s weekly oil inventories report. In the afternoon, the minutes from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting are due.

Thursday: The Philadelphia Fed index, a regional reading on manufacturing, is expected to have fallen to a negative 5 in July from a negative 2.2 in June. Any reading that is negative shows weakness in the sector.

Also due in the morning: RealtyTrac’s report on foreclosure filings in the first half of the year and the weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department.

Friday: June housing starts are due in the morning from the Census Bureau. Starts are expected to have dipped to a 530,000 unit annual rate from a 532,000 unit annual rate in May.

Building permits, a measure of builder confidence, is expected to have risen to a 523,000 unit annual rate in June from a 518,000 unit annual rate in May. 

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