Week Ahead: More Earnings and Inflation Gauges

Fourth-quarter earnings reports will dominate investors’ attention next week, while economic reports include gauges of inflation and the housing market.

High-profile companies on tap to report include car maker General Motors (NYSE:GM), hotel operator Marriott International (NYSE:MAR), retailer Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) and media giant CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS).

Also due is a report from online gaming company Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), which will release its first quarterly earnings since taking its shares public in January. Zynga has close ties to social media company Facebook, which filed for its own long-awaited initial public offering earlier this month. Two significant pieces of inflation data are due next week: the producer price index on Thursday and the consumer price index on Friday. The producer price index gauges costs for manufacturers and wholesalers, while the consumer-price index gauges costs to consumers ranging for a broad range of goods.

The Federal Reserve has said repeatedly that inflation is a future concern but not an immediate priority.

Housing data will come from the National Association of Home Builders' February index due out Wednesday and reports on January housing construction set for Thursday. Neither report is expected to show a significant pickup in the long-slumping U.S. housing market.