We have two homebuilder earnings due from Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) and PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM).  Other key earnings to watch will be from the following: Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX); Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX); CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME); Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW); Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW); Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD); International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP); Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K); MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA); Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK); Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL); Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT); Trimble Navigation Ltd. (NASDAQ: TRMB); Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX); YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

We have included Thomson Reuters consensus estimates on each company.  On most we have included pricing data and/or other bits of color for traders to consider.

We have two different homebuilders on deck to report.  Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is expected to post -$0.36 EPS on $211.4 million in sales and we would watch cancellation rates on contracts as well as the quality of the earnings.  Second is PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) with an expected positive earnings of $0.07 EPS on $1.14 billion in sales.  Pulte’s cancellation rates and quality of earnings will also have to be monitored.

Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) will show private equity wealth and earnings in the morning.  The firm is expected to report earnings of $0.38 EPS on revenues of $986.75 million.

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has been down and out for longer than any current and past holder would like to consider.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.08 EPS on $1.91 billion in sales.

CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME) is expected to report earnings of $3.71 EPS and $754 million in sales before the market opens.  With a possibility of a state-relocation and the ongoing pressure of exchange mergers we would be watching this one.  At roughly $244.50, the 52-week trading range is $224.69 to $317.27.

Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) is expected to turn in earnings of $0.30 EPS on $14.19 billion in sales.  The report is due in the morning.

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is expected to report earnings of $0.19 EPS on $2.58 billion in sales.  The shares are now up over 60% from the lows of the last year and the stock still remains pressured due to the mortgage insurance overhang that has been in place for quite some time.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) has shocked the market by outperforming despite what appears to be a bad use of effort and capital in the large acquisition.  Still, shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.05 EPS and $2.18 billion in sales. 

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) is close to being within striking range of a 52-week high and it pays well above a 3% yield today.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.61 EPS and $6.5 billion in sales.

Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) is lagging and actually close to a 52-week low with shares around the $49.50 mark. The estimates are $0.63 on $2.99 billion in sales.  The bar is set very low here.

MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) will show just what the interchange fee problems look like, but that is not fully reflected at all in current numbers.  The consensus estimates are $3.92 EPS and $1.73 billion in sales. With shares around $357 some are concerned over valuations here.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is reporting early Thursday morning and the company’s higher dividend hike has shares trading very close to 52-week highs with a price of close to $38.70 andf a 52-week range of $29.47 to $39.43.  Estimates are $0.95 EPS and $12.53 billion in sales. To show just how low growth is the estimates of $3.76 EPS and $48.23 billion in sales for all of 2011 are only expected to be $3.83 EPS on $47.62 billion in sales for all of 2012.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) may or may not release.  With its rival’s disaster, we are not doing much legwork here.  Thomson Reuters has a projection of $0.15 EPS and $1.78 billion in sales.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) is key for hotel investors and this one is expected to post $0.57 EPS on $1.42 billion in sales. Starwood has over $1 billion in cash but is still trading at a high 3.7-times book value.

Trimble Navigation Ltd. (NASDAQ: TRMB) is not so widely watched on its own, but it is used as a barometer reading for Garmin.  Trimble estimates are $0.48 EPS and $419.10.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) has been in the news with new FDA approvals.  We have Thursday as the tentative date and estimates are $0.73 EPS and $523.66 million in sales.

YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) is set to report and it is a puzzlement as to how this stock is still alive.  On a reverse split basis the $12.83 price compares to a 52-week range of $7.94 to somewhere over $1,000.  The consensus is listed as -$6.97 EPS but we have no idea how these targets are composed on this company.

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JON C. OGG

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) says costs may drive it to a loss this quarter. (Reuters)

Sony (NASDAQ: SNE) appoints Kazuo Hirai as CEO. (Reuters)

China’s PMI is better than expected. (Reuters)

Patent plaintiffs file actions against Facebook ahead of its IPO. (Reuters)

Panasonic and Samsung will try to set financial ties to troubled Olympus. (Reuters)

Blackstone (NYSE: BX), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and DE Shaw are among Kodak’s largest creditors. (Reuters)

The U.S. to charge some Credit Suisse employees with mortgage bond fraud. (WSJ)

President Obama will try to set plans for millions to refinance mortgages. (WSJ)

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) to buy India entertainment company UTV Software Communications. (WSJ)

Hulu will press its entry into original programs. (WSJ)

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) says it will not offer certain Amazon.com books. (WSJ)

U.S. refiners and the United Steelworkers come to an agreement just ahead of a strike. (WSJ)

The U.S. deficit will be above $1 trillion again in the next year. (WSJ)

As Greece moves closer to default, Germany presses its case for more control over the small nation’s budget. (WSJ)

The European Central Bank faces huge losses from a Greek default. (WSJ)

Corn and tin prices rise rapidly. (WSJ)

Chrysler may do more to save Fiat than Fiat did for Chrysler. (WSJ)

The stock market has its best January gains in 15 years. (WSJ)

Natural gas futures fall 7.7%, nearly a one-day record. (WSJ)

Officials track more than 90% of the money lost from MF Global customer accounts. (NYT)

A new rare earth plant will open in Malaysia. (NYT)

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has attached some AMR assets to help employees to get benefits. (NYT)

New jobs data show the great differences among EU economies. (FT)

Greek bondholders may set a deal to get a better return if its economy recovers. (Bloomberg)

China’s home prices fall for the fifth month in January. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Some of the private equity firms which will be watching this offering closely are The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) worth $7.4 billion, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) worth $3.1 billion, American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) worth almost $2.5 billion, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE: OZM) worth about $925 million, and Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG) worth about $665 million.  There is also the PowerShares Global Listed Private Equity (NYSE: PSP) ETF that Carlyle will ultimately become a part of when it comes public.

Carlyle is going to list on NASDAQ rather than on the NYSE and it is going to list under the ticker “CG” for its units.  No financial terms have been set for the deal.  The private equity giant has selected J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse as the listed book-runners for this IPO.

It is hard to admit that it was hard to ignore that the founders made a combined $413 million in 2011 ahead of this IPO.  The full amended filing is here.

One reason that private equity deals matter to the public right now is because of Mitt Romneys’s roots back to Bain and the current misconceptions about what private equity firms actually do.  While layoffs happen at most private equity buyout targets, many of those businesses were failing to generate profits and many may have eventually folded on their own.  Who are the largest clients of private equity firms?  Usually company and governmental pension funds.

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The EU agrees to an embargo on Iranian oil. (Reuters)

Citing defense cuts, Boeing (NYSE: BA) closes it plant in Wichita. (Reuters)

Japan Air plans to list its shares in a $13 billion IPO. (Reuters)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) hires an Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) executive to run its iAd business. (Reuters)

Fiat raises its ownership in Chrysler to 58.5%. (Reuters)

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) to declare bankruptcy later this month. (WSJ)

Congress will examine which ratings firms failed to do more to warn on MF Global’s European investments. (WSJ)

Apartment vacancy rates fall as people prefer renting over buying. (WSJ)

Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) will put more video from TV behind pay walls on the web. (WSJ)

Farmers face a shortage of corn. (WSJ)

BMW sales top Mercedes in the U.S. for 2011. (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve calls on Congress to do more about the battered housing market. (WSJ)

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos says Greece faces default if it does not receive a second bailout. (WSJ)

Verizon Wireless sells 4.2 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, which will damage its margins. (WSJ)

U.S. auto sales rise strongly in December. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) faces a decision from an Ecuador court on environmental issues that may dog the U.S. company for years. (WSJ)

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) puts its Sterling Publishing unit up for sale. (WSJ)

Auto lenders target people who fall behind on home mortgages. (WSJ)

China will create new measures to make it easier for banks to clear yuan across borders. (WSJ)

Nielsen SoundScan says sales of full albums rose 1.3% last year to 330.6 million. (NYT)

If the Strait of Hormuz is closed, oil prices could quickly rise 50% and gas to $4. (NYT)

Americans have less economic mobility than people in many other nations. (NYT)

Spain says that its banks would need 50 billion euro to clean up their balance sheets. (FT)

France will try to raise $10.4 billion at low rates to demonstrate confidence in its economy. (Bloomberg)

Toyota’s (NYSE: TM) sales in China rose only 4% last year, underperforming the market. (Bloomberg)

Apple’s profit margins probably rose because of pressure it put on supplier Foxconn. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Italian yields may fall because of European Central Bank injections of long-term funds into the market. (Reuters)

Retail sales remain strong at the end of the holiday season. (Reuters)

Verizon Wireless has more problems with its 4G network. (Reuters)

China has given $1 billion in quotas for outside institutions to invest since October, as a way to keep money flowing into the country. (Reuters)

S&P puts Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) on credit watch. (Reuters)

U.S. prosecutors are preparing criminal charges against BP (NYSE: BP) for actions related to the Gulf spill in 2010. (WSJ)

Hedge funds start to buy mortgage-related bonds on the gamble that housing will rebound. (WSJ)

The S&P 500 is down for 2011. (WSJ)

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) will sell $865 million in pipelines. (WSJ)

Reliance, the large India telecom, may sell some of its tower business to Carlyle or Blackstone (NYSE: BX). (WSJ)

Prices of silver and gold fall sharply. (WSJ)

Nike’s (NYSE: NKE) Jordan line of shoes draws massive crowds. (WSJ)

The National Federation of Independent Business says small businesses will begin to expand again. (WSJ)

European banks begin to worry about collateral. (WSJ)

European banks and governments must prepare to refinance large sums next year. (WSJ)

Many experts expect oil prices to stay above $100 next year. (NYT)

India accelerates its plans to rely more on solar power. (NYT)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to cut 580 jobs in New York City. (NYT)

China was a bigger market for IPOs this year than the U.S. was. (FT)

The Federal Reserve looks for ways to make the repo market less risky. (FT)

In a move to challenge Facebook, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) advertises to bring new members to its social network. (FT)

Peugeot sales fall in Europe along with a sharp drop in volume at Fiat. (Bloomberg)

The euro drops to a 10-year low against the yen. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Hold with $225.00 price target “due to low margins through 2012″ at Canaccord Genuity.
The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) Raised to Buy with $20.00 price target at Argus.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Cut to Hold from Buy at Argus.
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
GeoResources, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOI) Started as Buy with $43 price target “on a concentrated Eagle Ford/Bakken exposure” by Canaccord Genuity.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ rating and $725.00 price target “on robust growth and great value” by Canaccord Genuity.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started in new coverage as Buy with a $14.75 price target at Jefferies.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Started as Buy with $85 price target as “growth trumps valuation” by Canaccord Genuity.
Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) Downgraded to Neutral from Buy with $43 price target by Goldman Sachs.
Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) Downgraded to Neutral from Buy with $33 price target at Goldman Sachs.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Started as Hold with $51 target at Auriga.
The Talbots, Inc. (NYSE: TLB) maintained Neutral with $3.00 fair value by Janney Capital Markets.
Travelers Cos. Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) added to the US Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Maintained Neutral with $23.00 price target at Janney Capital Markets.
Willis Group Holdings, PLC (NYSE: WSH) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

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China’s PMI contracts for the first time in three years. (Reuters)

The former CEO of Olympus tries to get his job back after the company was rocked by scandal. (Reuters)

A Reuters poll shows that U.S. and UK institutions have sharply cut EU debt. (Reuters)

A massive strike of UK teachers and public employees, based on resistance to government expense cuts, rocks the country. (Reuters)

Meg Whitman, the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), will rely on increases in software revenue to revive the company. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) and Deutsche Telekom may create a joint venture between AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile as a way to get around government objections to a buyout. (Reuters)

New insider trading charges may be brought against managers at Neuberger Berman, Diamond Back and Level. (WSJ)

Pilots at American Airlines hire Lazard to help them in negotiations. (WSJ)

S&P cuts its rating of HP by two notches. (WSJ)

Tepco says its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex was closer to a major disaster than previously thought. (WSJ)

Statistics agency Eurostat  says unemployment across the Euroblock rose to 16.3 million. (WSJ)

United Continental (NYSE: UAL) receives government approval to further integrate its operations. (WSJ)

Web entrepreneurs are concerned that a sales tax on Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will spread to their businesses. (WSJ)

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) sharply increases its dividend. (WSJ)

Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) to offer free smartphone tax advice. (WSJ)

Yahoo!’s board continues to favor the sale of a minority interest. (NYT)

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) picks the head of Digitas to run Time Inc., a sign of a move away from print. (NYT)

Zynga’s IPO to be valued at $10 billion. (NYT)

Spain and France will try to raise money in a high-interest sovereign paper environment. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The larger positions worth $100 million or more are as follows:

BANKUNITED, INC. (NYSE: BKU) at $284.851 million for 13,721,131 shares.

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR HOLDINGS, LTD. (NYSE: FSL) at $2.16 billion for 196,136,895 shares.

GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES INC. (NYSE: GGP) at $604.3 million for 49,942,980 shares.

NIELSEN HOLDINGS N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) at $1.436 billion for 55,095,361 shares.

ORBITZ WORLDWIDE INC. (NYSE: OWW) at $119.45 million for 55,046,598 shares.

TEAM HEALTH HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE: TMH) at $583.01 million for 35,506,563 shares.

TRW AUTOMOTIVE HOLDINGS CORP. (NYSE: TRW) at $637.85 million for 19,488,416 shares.

JON C. OGG

What makes this so interesting is that two buyout offers came from The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises LP (NYSE: IEP) failed to secure a merger almost a year ago.

The move effectively aims to protect the parent company from shareholders, including Carl Icahn, and appears to be coming at the expense of bondholders.  The company has reached an agreement with holders of more han $1.4 billion in senior notes issued by the Dynegy Holdings subsidiary and it appears to be setting the tone for the restructuring of more than $4 billion of Dynegy Holdings’ obligations. This appears to have no impact on the power generation assets. Where the issues are coming is that Dynegy has restructured and now the parent owns the assets but certain subsidiaries on the hook for the debt in a move obviously meant to protect the parent company in restructuring efforts.

Dynegy shares are up 25% at $3.70 on very active volume and the 52-week trading range is $2.35 to $6.92.

JON C. OGG

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML; Maintained Buy but cut target to $7 at Canaccord Genuity.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Maintained Buy with $255 target at BofA/ML.
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Started as Neutral at Stern Agee.
Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Celestica Inc. (NYSE: CLS) Started as Market Perform at BMO.
Dril-Quip, Inc. (NYSE: DRQ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) Reiterated Buy with $44 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) Reiterated Buy and $24 target at Argus.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
ONEOK Partners. LP (NYSE: OKS) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG