This past week Alcoa (AA) officially kicked off earnings, surprising the Street with better than expected results.

Next week will start slow thanks to Columbus Day -- the bond market is closed but not the stock market -- but the action will pick up later in the week when earnings season really gets going.

Banks have been upgrading other banks lately and next week we will get to see if these upgrades are warranted when Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Goldman Sachs (GS) report earnings. The spread between the 2- and 10-year bond offers a good environment for the banks to make money.

Other companies reporting earnings next week are Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM), and Google (GOOG).

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Monday, October 12

Economics

Earnings

Before: FAST

After: ELS

Events

Bond Markets Closed for Columbus Day Holiday

Tuesday, October 13

Economics

Earnings

Before: DPZ, GIGM, JNJ

After: ALTR, CSX, INTC

Speeches

07:30 Christina Romer
12:00 Donald Kohn
01:15 William Dudley

Events

NOK and SYMC @ Dow Jones Newswires VentureWire Showcase Conference
JCI Strategic Review and 2010 Outlook Analyst Presentation
WATG, ADY, HRBN, CTFO @ Roth Capital Partners China Conference
ARST Investor and Financial Analyst Day
CBRL Investor Day

Wednesday, October 14

Economics

08:30 Export Price ex-ag
08:30 Import Prices ex-oil
08:30 Retail Sales (-2.0% cons)
08:30 Retail Sales ex-auto (-0.2% cons)
10:00 Business Inventories (-0.8% cons)
02:00 FOMC Minutes

Earnings

Before: ABT, CBSH, JPM, LUFK, MTOX, PGR, GWW

After: ATR, CCK, SPTN, STLY, WDFC, XLNX

Thursday, October 15

Economics

08:30 Initial Claims
08:30 Continuing Claims
08:30 Core CPI (0.1% cons)
08:30 CPI (0.2% cons)
10:00 Philadelphia Fed (12.3 cons.)
01:00 Crude Inventories

Earnings

Before: APH, BAX, BIIB, SCHW, CIT, C, CY, FCS, GS, HOG, HOMB, KNL, NOK, PII, PPG, SWY, LUV, UTEK, WGO

After: AMD, CBST, GOOG, IBM, PMCS, TPX, TSCM

Events

HALO Investor R&D Day
PETM 2009 Analyst Day
ORCL Analyst Meeting

Friday, October 16

Economics

09:00 Net Long-Term TIC Flows
09:15 Capacity Utilization (69.7% cons)
09:15 Industrial Production (0.1% cons)
09:55 Michigan Sentiment- Prel (73.5 cons)

Earnings

Before: AOS, BAC, FHN, GE, HAL, MAT, PRSP

After:

Speeches

10:15 Richard Fisher