Morning Market Roundup: Citigroup and Wells Fargo Ignite Earnings, S&P Downgrades Center Stage

Here’s what’s important in the financial world:

After ending the week on S&P downgrades on the euro zone, market watchers will continue to watch developments in that area including Greece’s efforts to restructure its government debt. For market participants in the U.S., it will be a shortened week because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

(Related: Greece Must Reach Debt Swap Deal By March to Avoid Disorderly Default.)

When the markets open on Tuesday, it will be a very busy week with earnings reports dominated by financial companies. On Thursday, look for news from weekly jobless claims.

Over in Asia, Chinese economic data will be the focus this week as investors will wait to see whether numbers support further monetary easing measures from Beijing. This past week, China released consumer inflation figures, which showed a slight easing to 4.1 percent in December, year over year. On Tuesday, the market will see another piece of the puzzle as China reports its fourth-quarter economic growth as well as retail sales and industrial output.

Mining companies will take over the headlines with their fourth quarter earnings reports. On Tuesday, Rio Tinto Ltd. will release its numbers, followed by BHP Billiton Ltd. on Wednesday.

On Friday, HSBC will release initial results from the January survey of manufacturers (China Purchasing Manufacturing Index).

Back in the U.S., it’s all about these economic releases and earning reports.

Economic Numbers:

• Monday: Spain sells T-bills.
• Tuesday: EarningsEmpire State Manufacturing Survey for January.
• Wednesday: Portugal sells bills, December PPI, November TIC Data, Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for December and  NAHB Housing Market Index for January.
• Thursday: France sells bonds and notes, Spain sells bonds, weekly jobless claims, December housing starts, December CPI and January Philly Fed Index.
• Friday: Existing Home Sales for December.

Earnings:

• Monday: None.
• Tuesday: Forest Labs, M&T Bank, Linear Technology, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.
• Wednesday: eBay, PNC Financial, State Street,Xilinx, Northern Trust, Charles Schwab,US Bancorp, SLM Corporation, Bank of New York Mellon, Goldman Sachs, Fastenal, and F5 Networks.
• Thursday: Johnson Controls, Union Pacific, BB&T, BlackRock,Freeport-McMoRan, Huntingon Bancshares, Southwest Airlines, PPG Industries, UnitedHealth Group, Microsoft, Intuitive Surgical, Intel, IBM,Google, American Express,Bank of America, Morgan Stanley,Rockwell Collins, People’s United Financial, and Capital One.
• Friday: Schlumberger, Comerica,First Horizon National, General Electric, Parker Hannifin, SunTrust Banks, and Fifth Third Bancorp.

[Editor’s note: the above is a cross post that originally appeared on Wall St. Cheat Sheet.]