Stock Market:Looking Forward to Next Week!

Next week, in fact, a huge week  for retailers, with reports due from

Nordstrom, Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Plus, there are a number of important economic reports scheduled.  And let us not forget that Congress will return from the election break, and there may be a short but probably intense debate on whether or how much to extend the Bush tax cuts.

GM’s IPO may get most of the attention, IPOs often start with price gains and then fall back. Better to wait or, as Jim Cramer suggested on Friday, buy Ford Motor (F).

The big report comes Monday morning from the Commerce Department: retail sales. Most analysts are looking for a 0.7% month-to-month gain. A bigger report will give the market a big boost.

The next biggest reports are the Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index reports, due Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. All sorts of commodities are sharply higher this year. The question is how fast are those increase filtering to producers and consumers.

Next are the manufacturing reports from New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve banks, due Monday and Thursday, respectively. These have shown evidence of a slowdown.

Leading economic indicators, due Thursday from The Conference Board, should show an increase because of the big stock market rally.

Initial jobless claims, also due Thursday from the Labor Department, could really excite the markets if the seasonally adjusted number comes in at 435,000 or lower.

Normally, housing starts and building permits, due Wednesday from the Commerce Department, would get close scrutiny. The numbers will be weak. Foreclosures won't get out of the way.