Slow Econ Schedule. Earnings and Goldman Sachs in Focus

With little economic data released until Thursday this week, investor attention should remain focused on first-quarter earnings releases, plus continued speculation on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Goldman Sachs.

Before the Friday announcement that the SEC was charging Goldman with fraud, all three indexes in the US were at 52-week highs.

This morning, ahead of Q1 earnings from Citigroup, Halliburton and IBM, stock futures are sharply lower.

Dow Futures are down 47 points to 10,937 and S&P 500 futures are off 5.75 points to 1,184.50. The 2 year Treasury note is -0-00 at 100-02 yielding 0.963% and the 10 year Treasury note is -0-02 at 98-23 yielding 3.78%.

Commodities are also weaker with WTI crude oil trading $2.35 lower at $80.89 per barrel and Spot Gold down $9.30 to $1,128.10.

Continued earnings releases could reverse the decline quickly though. According to analysts at BMO Capital Markets, 18 of 20 S&P 500 companies to report have beaten earnings expectations, while 16 have beaten on revenues.

“One early theme emerging is a renewal of hiring plans,” the analysts wrote. “Intel now plans to hire as many as 2,000 people in 2010, Google expects aggressive hiring this year, JPMorgan plans to add nearly 9,000, while CSX is calling back workers.”

Other earnings results to be posted this week including Goldman Sachs tomorrow and  Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley on Wednesday. 

Monday:

10:00 â€