Next Week's News Today: (Economic Crisis Metaphor Alert as Earnings, Hearings, and Political Polls Collide)

If it's Thursday, then it's time for Next Week's News Today where we publish our own futures calendar of earnings, reports, hearings and political events which will either drive the news, or deserve more attention. Last week we were correct to point out that earnings would be the main action.

Here's why you care: This coming week expect earnings to also take center stage. The list below is not exhaustive, but selective (although exhaustive for us to have gone through). Are there narratives here in the deluge of company earning reports? Sure. First, the well known names like Verizon (10/27) or Comcast, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, and Prudential (all 10/29) will likely get there own stories on the wires, and on the web.

Looking at all the companies there are many related to oil, like Chevron (10/31), but there are also a number of companies reporting that are associated with oil drilling that make for interesting copy as to the industry which did so well this past summer, only to have prices go down of late.

There are once again a number of regional banks below that collectively deserve more attention. It would be nice to have stories on the status of the Treasury's watch list for regional banks that might fail.

We were interested to see the surprising number of real estate related companies reporting next week. Since expectations are low, let's see who beats them.

Economic reports like New Home Sales (for September out on 10/27) and Personal Spending and Income (10/31) will make good news pegs to examine the economy.

Capitol Hill will get into the action with a number of economic hearings listed below, notably the Joint Economic Cmte (10/30) could prove interesting once their witness list is complete.

And if you are inclined to look at earnings as truly being put on metaphor alert for the economy you might see a piece on Moody's earnings (10/29) in the business section and a story on Mortons Restaurant Group (10/29) in the style section on the same day.

Lastly, politics can't be ignored as the economy is the number one issue on the campaign trail and next week is the last week of the campaign. Notably Quinnipiac University unveils a poll at the Press Club (10/30) taken simultaneously in the battleground states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania - all states feeling the pinch of declining real estate values.

As always, events are broken down by days below.

MONDAY 10/27
Earnings: American Financial Group; Americredit Corp; Applied Industrial Technologies; Arch Coal; Axis Capital Holdings; Bank of Hawaii; BE Aerospace Inc.; Boardwalk Pipeline; CNA Financial; Corus Bankshares; Ducommun Inc.; Eagle Materials; Education Realty Trust Inc.; Fidelity National Information Services; First Advantage Corp; First State Banc; Franklin Electric; Gehl Co; Heartland Financial USA; Hercules; Kilroy Realty; Lorillard; Old National Bancorp; Parexel International Corp; Penn National Gaming; Plum Creek; PrivateBancorp; SL Green Realty Corp; Tidewater; Universal Health Services; Verizon; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Economic Reports: New Homes Sales (for September)


TUESDAY 10/28
Earnings: ACE Ltd; Actel Corp; Align Technology Inc.; American Capital Agency Corp; Apollo Group; Bemis; BP; Boston Properties; Canadian Pacific Railway; Centex; Check Point Software; CTS Corp; Denny's; Dreamworks Animation; EarthLink; Entergy Corp; Estee Lauder; FirstMerit Corp; FMC Corp; Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc.; Health Management Associates Inc.; Holly Energy Partners; Kansas City Southern; Lan Airlines SA; LandAmerica Financial Group; Martha Stewart; Martin Marietta Materials; McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; MicroStrategy; NetLogic; Occidental Petroleum; Odyssey Healthcare; Pacer International; Peet's Coffee; Pzena Management Inc; RenaissanceRE Holdings Ltd.; Royal Caribbean Cruises; SAP AG; Sierra Wireless; Smith International Inc.; Taser; U.S. Steel; Under Armor; USG Corp; Valero Energy; Whirlpool

Economic Reports: Consumer Confidence (for October)

Hearings: House Education and Labor Cmte.: Impact of Economy on Health Coverage


WEDNESDAY 10/29
Earnings: Advanced Auto Parts; Aetna; Ameriprise Financial; Annaly Mortgage; Comcast; Constellation Energy; Corning; Drugstore.com; Equity Residential; Federal Realty Investment Trust; FirstService Corp; Hartford Financial; Invesco; Kellogg; Kraft Foods; Lazard; Legg Mason; MetLife; Moody's; Mortons Restaurant Group; New York Community Bancorp; Nexen; Noble Energy; Office Depot; Owens Corning; Procter & Gampble; Prudential; Qwest; RealNetworks; Sony; SPX Corp; Standard Pacific; Suncor Energy; Visa

Economic Reports: Durable Orders (for September); Crude Inventories (for 10/25); Federal Open Market Cmte Policy Statement released

Hearings: 1) House Transportation and Infrastructure Cmte.: Economic Recovery and Infrastructure Investing; 2) House Ways and Means Cmte.: Economic Security and Recovery


THURSDAY 10/30
Earnings: Advisory Board; Alcatel-Lucent; Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.; American Capital; AmerisourceBergen Corp; Apache Corp; Avon Products; Ball Corp; BJ Services; Blockbuster; Brinks; Bronco Drilling; Callaway Golf; Cameron; CBS Corp; Chiquita Brands; CIGNA Corp; CMS Energy; Colgate-Palmolive; Conseco; CVS Caremark; Dominion; Dril Quip Inc; Eastman Kodak; Energizer Holdings; Expedia Inc.; Exxon Mobil; Flagstar Bancorp; First American Corp; France Telecom; Human Genome Sciences Inc.; Integra Bank; International Paper; Mack Cali Realty Corp.; Marathon Oil; Midas; Midway Games; MFA Mortgage Investments Inc.; Micros Systems; Nationwide; NRG Energy; Newell Rubermaid Inc.; Omega Healthcare Investments; Penske Auto; Pride International Inc.; Public Service Enterprise Group; Radian Group; Realty Income Corp; SBA Communications Corp; Signature Bank; Sirius XM Radio; Steven Madden; Sun Microsystems; Timberland; Union Drilling; Waste Management; WebMD Health; Weingarten Realty; Westwood One Inc; Wyndham Worldwide; Wynn Resorts

Economic Reports: Initial Unemployment Claims (for 10/25);

Hearings: Joint Economic Cmte.: Economic Recovery - Need for Growth and Stimulus examines Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers (early signs growth stalling and spending declining).

Polls: Quinnipiac University Poll press conference, 10a National Press Club on polls conducted simultaneously in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.


FRIDAY 10/31
Earnings: Alliant Energy; American Electric; Burger King; Chevron; MB Financial; NYSE Euronext;

Economic Reports: Employment Cost Index (for the third quarter); Personal Income (for September); Personal Spending (for September);