By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Investors are expected to keep their eyes on the oil market in the coming week, as the unrest in Libya and the Middle East threatens to lift gasoline prices, and Japan deals with the after-effects of Friday’s massive earthquake.
There will also be a fair amount of U.S. economic data, Congress battling over funding the federal government and the appearance of Hewlett-Packard Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!hpq/quotes/nls/hpq (HPQ 41.73, +0.25, +0.60%) Chief Executive Leo Apotheker at a company-sponsored “summit” meeting with reporters and analysts to get some of the market’s attention after the weekend.
U.S. week ahead: Meeting with Leo
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s new chief executive, Leo Apotheker, will meet in person for the first time Monday with analysts and the news media. MarketWatch’s Benjamin Pimentel and Stacey Delo discuss what to expect in the debut.
The impact of Friday’s magnitude-8.9 earthquake, and subsequent tsunami on Japan initially sent crude-oil future prices down as much as $3 a barrel in Friday’s market session. Crude for April delivery /quotes/comstock/21n!f:cl\j11 (CLJ11 98.91, -2.25, -2.22%) edged back upward to close at $101.16, down $1.54 for the day.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 12,044, +59.79, +0.50%) gave up 1%. The S&P 500 Index /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,304, +9.17, +0.71%) was down 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,716, +14.59, +0.54%) shed 2.5% on the week.
“Oil is going to continue to be in the spotlight,” said Mike Zarembski, senior commodities analyst with OptionsXpress in Chicago. “Initially, when word got out about Japan’s refineries having to shut down, the price of oil dropped.”
Zarembski said that if Japan’s refineries remain shut down, the market could see the country having to import more oil than usual to meet its demands.
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The ongoing turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East will continue to impact prices at the gas pump, as fighting rages in Libya, and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain deal with protests of varying levels.
However, Sean Kraus, senior vice president and chief investment officer at Citizens Trust in Pasadena, Calif., said that even with the turbulence in the Middle East, oil is showing some signs of stabilizing at around $100 a barrel, which should calm some fears about crude’s impact on the global economy.
“It seems to be coming back down, along with other commodities, from the peak in February,” Kraus said. “For long-term investors, that’s positive and we feel global expansion can continue at around $100 [a barrel].”
Chevron Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!cvx/quotes/nls/cvx (CVX 99.93, +0.85, +0.86%) officials will also give some insight into the state of the oil and energy giant’s business at the company’s analyst meeting on Monday.
FedEx Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!fdx/quotes/nls/fdx (FDX 90.71, +0.76, +0.84%) will deliver its fiscal third-quarter results before the market opens on Thursday. In February, the delivery giant lowered its earnings estimates by 25 cents a share due to what the company said were higher-than-expected fuel costs and expenses from winter storms.
Nike Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!nke/quotes/nls/nke (NKE 87.17, -1.01, -1.15%) will also get some attention from the market when the sporting-goods company gives its third-quarter report after Thursday’s market close.
Apotheker’s meet and greet
In addition to the oil watch, tech investors will see what H-P CEO Leo Apotheker has to say at a meeting the company is holding with reporters and analysts on Monday in San Francisco.
Peter Goldmacher, an analyst with Cowen and Co., said expectations for Apotheker’s appearance “are muted” due to Wall Street’s recent poor opinion of H-P’s board and management.
In a research note, Goldmacher said he sees two possible business routes for H-P to take: one is a “me too” approach to building out its high-end IT business that leaves it “in a distant third place behind Oracle and IBM”, the other focused on low-cost software offerings.
US Week Ahead: H-P's new CEO
Headlining the coming week's top news stories, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s newly installed chief executive, Leo Apotheker, is finally about to meet with analysts and members of the news media in person for the first time since taking the reins of the company.
The U.S. Congress is expected work on another short-term spending bill to keep the government in operation after March 18. Also, economic reports slated for the week include the next statement on the economy from the Federal Open Market Committee, due on Tuesday, housing-starts figures on Wednesday and jobless claims for the week of March 12, which come out on Thursday.
Kevin Schackofsky, co-manager of the Alpine Dynamic Dividend Fund said the summit of European nations about the state of the euro and bailouts of member nations could also impact how investors feel about the U.S. markets.
Schackofsky said the main issues involve Germany and what it wants euro nations such as Ireland and Greece to do in order to receive bailout packages.
“The critical thing is can they make a deal?” Schackofsky said. “They [Germany] have the ability and will to lead a bail out, but they do want to exact a price.”
Late Thursday, euro-zone leaders meeting in Brussels produced an agreement on a competitiveness pact calling for far-reaching reforms, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Read more on what's expected from Brussels.
Rex Crum is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
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More Market Snapshot
| March 11, 2011 | Stocks gain in quake aftermath, off 1% for week | |
| March 10, 2011 | Stocks routed on Saudi concerns, global data | |
| March 9, 2011 | Stocks mark bull-market anniversary on down note | |
| March 8, 2011 | U.S. stocks surge on bank-dividend hopes | |
| March 7, 2011 | Stocks close lower as tech lags, oil surges |
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