US EQUITIES WEEK AHEAD: 1Q Results, Chrysler Filing?

The heavy pace of quarterly reports continues next week, when five components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and nearly a third of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index post results.

Detroit auto maker Chrysler LLC could file for bankruptcy protection next week, and struggling rival General Motors Corp. (GM) is expected to announce its plans for the Pontiac brand, among other issues. Auto makers also will report April sales figures next Friday.

With many efforts to pump money into the economy under way, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to take dramatic new actions at its policy meeting Tuesday and Wednesday.

 
   Oil Companies' Record Profits To End 
 

The largest and second-largest U.S. oil companies will post first-quarter results next week: Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) on Thursday and Chevron Corp. (CVX) a day later. Exxon's long string of record profits could end with declining earnings because of lower crude prices. Chevron forecast sharply lower earnings than a year earlier.

 
   Chrysler Bankruptcy Filing Possible 
 

Chrysler could be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as next week even if it reaches a deal with Italy's Fiat SpA (FIATY), according to people familiar with the matter. If an agreement with the company's lenders can be reached, the auto maker would file for bankruptcy protection to get rid of some liabilities. But if a deal with Chrysler's banks and Fiat cannot be reached, the auto maker would file for bankruptcy and begin liquidating, said these people.

A Chrysler bankruptcy filing, while long expected, would represent a watershed moment in Detroit's long decline, and the first such move among the once-dominant three auto makers. General Motors Corp. (GM) is working through similar issues and will likely be forced to file for bankruptcy in May.

 
   Auto Sales Likely In Line With Feb, March 
 

April auto sales, to be released May 1, are expected to be level with the past two months, according to J.D. Power & Associates, which said the battered U.S. auto industry is showing signs of stabilizing after months of bleak sales. Still, new-vehicle retail sales in the first half of April were down 33% from a year earlier. The annual rate of new-vehicle sales in the U.S. is at a 30-year low of less than 8 million.

 
   Fed Meeting To Focus On Planning 
 

The Federal Reserve is expected to focus on assessing signs of improvement in the economy, contingency planning and deliberations on long-term exit strategies at its policy meeting next week. During the past eight months, the central bank has pumped more than $800 billion into the U.S.'s financial system.

 
   Media, Credit Card Giants To Report 
 

Two media giants, Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and Viacom Inc. (VIA, VIAB), will post first-quarter results Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Both are suffering from the advertising slump and lower DVD sales.

Meanwhile, Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA) report next Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Unlike the actual issuers of plastic, the two giant card network companies are insulated from credit woes arising from increasing delinquencies because they make money from payment-processing fees, rather than lending.

 
   Whirlpool Results May Show Bottom 
 

When Whirlpool Corp. (WHR), the world's largest home-appliance maker, reports first-quarter results Monday, investors likely will be looking past the anticipated dismal performance for further indications of whether North American appliance sales are picking up. Rival Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB (ELUXY) said this week it is seeing early signs of a turnaround. Whirlpool in January predicted North American sales would fall for the fourth straight year in 2009. Wall Street analysts expect Whirlpool to report a loss of 18 cents a share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Revenue from the quarter is seen falling 14% to $3.94 billion.

 
   NYSE Euronext May Discuss Possible Merger 
 

Trans-Atlantic exchange operator NYSE Euronext (NYX) reports first-quarter earnings Thursday. Despite higher stock-trading activity, the exchange has struggled with tougher competition from smaller, electronic stock-trading rivals in the U.S. and Europe. Observers will watch for hints about merger talks with Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse (DB1.XE), which reportedly have been revived.

 
   1Q GDP Likely To Show 4.9% Decline 
 

The latest gross domestic product figures, to be released Wednesday, are expected to show the U.S. economy shrank 4.9% in the first quarter, compared with 6.3% in the last quarter of 2008.

The S&P Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas, is likely to show another decline in the high double digits in February. The index fell 19% for the three-month period ended in January compared with the year earlier period, which was a record annual rate of decline.

The government will report on March personal incomes and spending Thursday and March factory orders Friday. Also out Friday are the Institute for Supply Management's report on April manufacturing and the revised figure for the Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for April. The private Conference Board's consumer confidence index for April is due Tuesday.

Reports on regional manufacturing activity will be released Monday from the Dallas and Chicago Feds, Tuesday from the Richmond Fed and Thursday from the Kansas City Fed.

 
   Details On Dendreon Drug Expected 
 

Data on Dendreon Corp.'s (DNDN) Provenge, a controversial prostate-cancer treatment, will be presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Urological Association in Chicago. The company recently disclosed a key late-stage study that showed Provenge prolonged survival, making it likely to gain approval of the Food and Drug Administration, but no specific data were revealed.

 
   Press Conference Marks First 100 Days 
 

President Obama will hold a prime-time press conference Wednesday. The event, his third official press conference, will mark his first 100 days in office.

 
   Senate May Vote On Cramdown Bill 
 

The Senate is likely to vote as soon as Tuesday on a measure to allow bankruptcy judges to rework troubled mortgages. That tool, known as cramdown, is a central plank of the Obama administration's strategy to right the housing market. However, it almost certainly will fail because of opposition from Senate Republicans and some moderate Democrats.

The House passed legislation that combined the cramdown measure with a larger bill that would provide a new $100 billion Treasury line of credit for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which is facing a cash crunch due to the large number of banks it has had to bail out.

 
   IMF, World Bank Address Crisis 
 

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are holding spring meetings in Washington through Sunday. They will focus in part on following up the mandate from Group of 20 leaders earlier in the month to stop the spread of the global financial crisis. Advanced countries are urged to shore up financial sectors and consider more stimulus if possible. The groups also are seeking additional resources for safety net programs, infrastructure and small businesses in developing countries.

 
   Conferences 
 

Among the significant conferences next week are the Barclays Capital Retail and Restaurant Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York, Capital Link Closed-End Funds and Global ETFs Conference on Wednesday in New York, and SourceMedia Conferences The Bond Buyer's 4th Annual Pension & OPEB Financing Conference on Thursday and Friday in Hollywood, Calif.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; [e-mail]

(Thomas Gryta, Jacob Bunge, Robert Tita and other Dow Jones Newswires staff contributed to this report.)