We are just at the beginning of Q3 and earnings calls for Q2 will be coming from this week. I think widely expected is especially General Electric (GE) on Friday. GE shares closed last week on five years lows on credit concerns. Here are major events for the week.Monday:Economic NAEarnings NATuesday:Economic Pending Home (-3.0%), Wholesale Inv (0.7%), Consumer Credit (7.0B)Earnings Greenbrier (GBX), Pepsi Bottling (PBG), Alcoa (AA)Wednesday:Economic Weekly CrudeEarnings Acergy (ACGY), Wolverine (WWW), AAR (AIR), Shaw (SGR)Thursday:Economic Weekly ClaimsEarnings Chattem (CHTT), FC Stone (FCSX), Progressive (PGR), Marriott (MAR), Infosys (INFY)Friday:Economic Import / Export, Trade Balance, Michigan (56), Treasury BudgetEarnings General Electric (GE), Rockwell (COL)http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml

My latest column is up at RealMoney.

I think Rent-A-Center (RCII) can benefit from the slowdown in consumer spending and the tightening of credit standards.

If Rent-A-Center were to receive the same price-to-book multiple as Aaron Rents, it could trade above $28 per share today. While I don’t believe that will happen overnight, over the next five years Rent-A-Center could see high-single-digit earnings per share growth and also expand its price-to-book multiple to the 1.9 level. The combination of earnings growth and valuation expansion could generate annual returns averaging 15% or more.

Here’s how the company scores on the Stock Market Beat models:

Earnings momentum: Positive Earnings quality: Positive Price momentum: Neutral Free cash flow: Positive Return potential: Positive

Disclosure: At time of publication, William Trent has no financial position in the companies mentioned in this article.

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Yesterday we learned that non-farm productivity rose 2.2% in the first quarter of this year. Anyone who was working in an office or factory when the last recession hit in 2001 knows what that means—a lot of people have been laid off or had their hours cut back, and the lucky ones who haven’t are filling in the gap left by their colleagues’ absence. Here’s how the Bureau of Labor Statistics explained the current numbers: Productivity gains were due primarily to declines in hours worked. . . The decrease in hours was the largest since the second quarter of 2003, when they fell 2.1 percent. A look back to the 2001 – 2003 period reminds us that productivity continued to grow at a healthy pace throughout the recession. Wages, on a per-hour basis, rose, but not enough to keep up with inflation: Hourly ...