The Economy & Toyota

This week major retailers will be reporting fourth quarter earnings that will reflect their results from the holiday season. Firms releasing results are Lowes, Home Depot, Macy's, Target, Gap, Kohls, Sears, Nordstrom, and Office Depot. This is the last major industry to report earnings this quarter. We will get a sense of how well these companies did especially since this quarter represents most of their revenue and earnings for the fiscal year.

Toyota is also testifying on capital hill. A new report just came out today talking about how Toyota had boasted about saving $100 million by negotiating a limited recall of floor mats with the government on the 2007 Camry and Lexus ES350's. Toyota documents also reveal how the company saved $124 million on the delayed phase in to new safety regulations of side air bags and $11 million on a delayed rule calling for tougher door lock regulations. Was the company protecting their bottom line first and putting consumer safety second. What could come out in testimony this week could cause irreparable damage to their reputation.

Finally, Bernanke will testify in front of congress this week to give his semi-annual testimony on the economy. Investors hope that he talks about the discount rate increase and that the economy is improving.

China is also reopening their markets this week after observing the Chinese New Year. They will have about 2 weeks of news and data to catch up on which could cause some volatility in the Asian markets.