Jobs, oil, earnings to call market tune

U.S. stock investors will sift through reams of economic reports, including July payrolls and second-quarter gross domestic product, as they search for catalysts this week that could trigger a recovery on Wall Street.
With worries about the impact of the housing slump on the economy and the profit outlook keeping stocks in a bear market, data that points to strong growth will help put investors on firmer footing.
On the housing front, the U.S. Congress approved a massive housing market rescue bill on Saturday, offering emergency financing to mortgage titans Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), and setting up a $300 billion fund to help hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners.
This week's data will come on the heels of separate reports on Friday showing U.S. consumer sentiment rebounded in July from a 28-year low and business inventories rose unexpectedly last month. Data also revealed that June new-home sales were not as weak as expected, helping to dispel the gloom — and lift the market.
An added incentive for investors may come from a further drop in the price of oil, now below $124 a barrel — levels last seen in early June.
But even if this week's economic reports help fuel optimism, there probably will still be plenty of concerns about whether the financial sector has seen the worst of the credit crisis.
The government's plan to bolster the nation's mortgage finance companies brought calm in the past week on Wall Street, but a sense of "all clear" still eluded the market.
The main event on the crowded data calendar will come on Friday, when the Labor Department releases July's payrolls report, and the Institute for Supply Management gives its July reading on the manufacturing sector. Domestic car and truck sales for July are also set for release throughout the day.
Earnings will keep streaming in from marquee names, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Walt Disney Co, Verizon and Starbucks Corp. The government's advance reading on second-quarter GDP is due out on Thursday, along with a barometer of business activity in the U.S. Midwest from the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago.
Second-quarter gross domestic product, which is the output of goods and services within U.S. borders, is expected to have grown at an annual pace of 2.0 percent. First-quarter GDP was reported to have grown at an annual rate of 1.0 percent.
A loss of 75,000 jobs in July is forecast by economists polled by Reuters. In June, U.S. nonfarm payrolls shed 62,000 jobs. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 5.6 percent in July from 5.5 percent in June.
The drop in crude oil prices on Friday to a seven-week low helped the stock market, but it was not enough to completely overcome investors' hesitation about the financial sector.
Rueckert said he expected "a more sideways trading in oil, between $120 and $130 a barrel."