I believe we will continue to find direction in the market with the news due out next week.

The Federal Budget is due out on May 12th, posed to reveal the typical boost from tax receipts. However, the governments stimulus package will lead to a $400 billion deficit for the year.

Wal-Mart is due to release earnings on May 13th, which I believe will uncover the true consumer sentiment. EPS for the retailer are forecast to be up 10% from a year ago. I think this data will confirm a shift in consumer spending from larger, brand-name stores to the discount stores. Later on in the week (May 14), three of those larger name-brand retailers will release their fiscal Q1earnings. Macy's, J.C. Penney and Nordstrom post results through the second half of the week, and economists suggest that weak consumer spending is finally starting to hit the bottom line.

To follow on to Wal-Mart earnings, the April retail sales report is due out the same day. March sales rose just 0.2%, and economists are forecasting no growth at all for April. This is going to be one of the big talking points, as these numbers play a large part in the "are we really in a recession (yet) or not?" debate.

Sprint has been in the headlines lately as a result of their Wi-Max initiative. The consensus is that EPS will fall to just $0.02 as a result of a mass exedous in subscribers...