Third-quarter earnings season officially starts on Wednesday afternoon with Alcoa's (AA) report. The aluminum maker is expected to announce revenues of $4.5 billion and a loss of 11 cents per share. The results will look awful compared to last year because the commodity bubble peaked in Q308.

Joining AA will be 6 other S&P 500 members: Costco (COST), Family Dollar (FDO), Marriott (MAR), Monsanto (MON), Pepsi Bottling (PBG), PepsiCo (PEP) and Yum! Brands (YUM). We have confirmed scheduled reports from a total of 24 companies.

Economic data will largely take a backseat to the earnings news. There is comparatively little on the calendar, with the most newsworthy release being the September ISM services index. The weekly energy and mortgage applications reports could still influence trading, however.

Monday: September ISM services survey Wednesday: August consumer credit, September treasury budget, weekly crude inventories, weekly mortgage

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Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CHIP, CUR, CVM, ENZ, IMUC, IWEB, SRCO, SVUL, XSNX

Markets finally snapped their winning streak last week, as weakness in housing markets and durable goods orders led to broad-based declines in all of the major indices. All told, the Dow surrendered 155 points on the week to close at 9665, down 1.6% on the week but up 10.1% on the year. The Nasdaq lost 2.0% on the week to close at 2090, up 32.6% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 posted losses of 2.2% and 3.1% respectively, paring their yearly gains to 15.6% and 19.9%.

Unexpectedly poor data from the housing sector was the big economic story on the week as both new and existing August home sales failed to live up to expectations. New home sales increased modestly to 429,000, falling short of estimates calling

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• Ruby Tuesday (NYSE:RT) reported fourth quarter earnings of 28 cents per share, besting analysts' estimates of 19 cents, on revenues of $317.3 million, ahead of estimates of $303.95 million. The company expects fiscal 2010 earnings of 50-65 cents versus estimates of 55 cents, and sees same-store-sales declining 2.5-3.5%

• Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) reported the successful completion of a Phase 3 trial of its bone drug for the treatment of bone metastases in advanced breast cancer patients

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) upgraded Kohl's (NYSE:KSS), saying the firm is best positioned department store to show positive comparable sales in its fourth quarter

• BJs Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) received a downgrade from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) on concerns consumers may shift from bargain hunting to more discretionary retailers

• Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is planning the launch of a full operating system as it extends its Chrome browser, beginning with an introduction on netbooks in the second half of 2010.

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PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), along with Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG), is planning to invest $1 billion in Russia over 3 years.

This investment, which will swell total investment by Pepsi in the country to $4 billion, is in-line with the beverage major's strategy to boost presence in emerging markets.

"This investment reflects very clearly our great confidence in Russia and our long-term commitment to this very important market," said CEO Indra Nooyi.

The company also said that it is opening a new beverage plant in Domodedovo, while a snacks manufacturing facility is expected to be operational later this year in the southern city of Azov.

Pepsi and Pepsi Bottling are also contemplating major investments to establish a state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution infrastructure for the Lebedyansky juice business.

PEP, a Zacks #2 Rank ("Buy") stock, has advanced about 1% today on lower-than-usual volume of approximately 5.1 million, compared

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Reports Point to Housing Market Bottom; Big Three Automakers Beat Estimates; Microsoft Will Unveil New Operating System in Time for XMAS; Dallas Fed President: Economy ‘Getting Less Worse’; European Jobless Rate Climbs;  Pepsi Bottling Chief Could Cash In

The housing market showed further signs of bottoming in April, as pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes saw their biggest monthly gain in seven and a half years, the National Association of Realtors reported. The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes climbed 6.7% in April, more than forecast and the fourth increase in five months. The report supports the case for a housing bottom made in Money Morning on Monday, where it was noted that housing prices are starting to move upward in western U.S. markets and should soon slowly begin to rise in hard-hit east coast markets.  “Based on what we just ...

* Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) joined banking firms reporting better-than-expected first quarter numbers. Its earnings beat Street estimates by 40 cents, posting at 44 cents versus 23 cents a year ago and estimates of 4 cents, as Merrill and Countrywide acquisitions remained "on track."

* Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) bettered estimates by 3 cents, reporting first quarter earnings of 44 cents a share versus 64 cents a year ago

* GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) announced plans to acquire US skincare provider Stiefel Labs for up to $3.6 billion

* UBS (NYSE:UBS) said it will sell its Brazilian I-bank, Banco Pactual, for about $2.5 billion

* PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) offered $29.50 in cash and stock for Pepsi Bottling (NYSE:PBG) and $23.27 per share for PepsiAmericas (NYSE:PAS), valuing the companies at about $6.4 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively

* Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) announced plans to acquire Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) for $9.50 per share, or about $7.4 billion

Zacks ...

Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. (PBG) continues to execute well in a difficult soft drink environment. The lackluster carbonated soft drink (CSD) environment in North America is being addressed with a robust pipeline of new products and new initiatives in the refreshment and hydration categories.

Pepsi Bottling Group’s management is highly motivated and focused on the efficient manufacture and distribution of Pepsi-Cola products. The company is expanding in higher growth geographies. Net revenue per case in the U.S. has been strong, growing in the mid single-digit range due to a positive pricing environment. With the stock trading in the low-end of the historical valuation range, the Buy rating is maintained.

Pepsi Bottling Group’s stock has traded in a wide P/E multiple range of 12 to 27 over the last five years. However, during times of low single-digit volume growth, the P/E range has been between 12 and 19. At the current

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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