The Stocks to Watch This Week

At this time of year -- that is, earnings season -- there's always a lot to watch in terms of the market. The upcoming week is nevertheless of particular significance given the mix of companies reporting as well as the important economic reports that are intermixed throughout the next five days. But if there's one theme that's likely to have more of an impact on the S&P 500 than anything, it'll be housing.

On Monday, the National Association of Realtors releases its estimate of June existing home sales, followed up on Tuesday by the release of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's housing price index. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department announces its estimate of June new-home sales and the Mortgage Bankers Association reports the previous week's mortgage application activity. Finally, on Thursday, Freddie Mac publishes the average mortgage rate throughout the country.

If that isn't enough, moreover, the nation's two largest homebuilders are both set to report earnings on Thursday. D.R. Horton is expected to earn $0.34 per share on $1.71 billion in revenue. Following the company's last earnings release, its shares rose to a six-year high after announcing that its fiscal second-quarter profit more than doubled over the preceding three-month time period.

Meanwhile, analysts expect PulteGroup to earning $0.30 per share on $1.39 billion in revenue. It, too, outperformed expectations the last time it reported earnings, sending its shares soaring to a multiyear high.

Beyond these companies and economic releases, investors will be watching for earnings from a slew of other blue-chip concerns. On Tuesday, both UPS and Apple report. Boeing, Caterpillar, and Ford follow suit on Wednesday. And Amazon.com, 3M, and Coca-Cola are set to release their figures on Thursday.

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The article The Stocks to Watch This Week originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Maxfield owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends 3M, Amazon.com, Apple, Coca-Cola, Ford, and UPS and owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, and Ford. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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