By Deborah Levine

Stock investors will key next on earnings from tech giant Intel Corp. and banks including J.P. Morgan for hints of what to expect in the third quarter -- and how badly the recession hurt businesses in the second quarter.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell for a fourth consecutive week this past week, the longest string of declines since the doldrums in March.

Analysts expect very steep drops in earnings on a year-over-year basis, though earnings compared to last quarter are forecast to improve, said Binky Chadha, chief U.S. equity strategist at Deutsche Bank. Though sequential earnings are usually not as important because of various seasonal factors, this time around they may be a better signal of how the broader economy -- and by extension, the market -- will do.

Estimates of what each company will earn have been all over the map, especially in financials and consumer discretionary names, he said.

"A necessary condition for the markets to go up from here is that earnings have to deliver, and we need a dissipation of the uncertainty about earnings," Chadha said.

Still, analysts don't have very high expectations.

broadband:clip-type=video&file-name=071009obrien&guid={D3D6F9FE-CB56-49CB-AD54-A566931154B5}"The market is filled with folks who want to be optimistic, but simply cannot find enough genuine reasons to buy into the market," said Mike Gambale, an analyst at Informa Global Markets. "We don't expect impressive numbers across the board, but there will be some surprises, as there always are."

On Tuesday, Intel (INTC) is expected to report second-quarter earnings and sales plunged, but some analysts believe demand may be returning to the battered market following a sharp slowdown in demand for high-tech goods.

Internet-search juggernaut Google Inc. (GOOG) will report on Thursday.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) lost 2.2% in the week ended Friday.

A slew of financial firms will also report next week, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (C). It's likely to be a mixed bag, with some banks and brokerages performing very well with all the government supports, and other still scraping by.

Analysts expect JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), which reports on Wednesday, is expected to come through the market collapse mostly intact.

Besides each firm's own business outlook, bank earnings provide a window into how the real estate sector is really doing and how bad consumers' balance sheets are.

"There is a general feeling that residential housing is stabilizing, but commercial activity is struggling," said Nick Kalivas, equity analyst at MF Global. "Credit-card defaults are also expected to rise, but the magnitude of increase will be watched closely."

Another one that could give clues about the health of the economy is rail-transportation company CSX Corp. (CSX), which reports on Monday.

"A bottoming in the housing market or construction would suggest a pick up in the movement of building materials," Kalivas said.

Also on the radar will be economic reports, especially the retail sales data for June, scheduled to be released on Tuesday. A broad swath of retailers reported worse-than-expected same-store sales for June.

Data on wholesale and consumer prices will be released on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Week in review

Markets have been led by a creeping realization that the economy, in the U.S. and abroad, won't rebound as quickly or as robustly as many had previously hoped. That was, in part, underlined by the U.S. payrolls report on July 2 that said the economy shed many more jobs than had been anticipated.

On Friday, stocks and oil fell while Treasurys gained after a survey by the University of Michigan and Reuters said U.S. consumer sentiment fell sharply in early July, in part because Americans are still worried about what the future of the economy might hold.

Oil futures fell below $60 a barrel Friday, heading for their biggest weekly loss in six months as an International Energy Agency report reaffirmed concerns about weak demand as the economy remains sluggish.

Treasurys prices advanced Friday, adding to the longest streak of weekly yield declines since December. The yield on benchmark 10-year notes (UST10Y) fell this week to 3.29%, the lowest since May 20.

A flight to safety also benefited the Japanese yen. Earlier in the week, the U.S. dollar fell to its lowest level versus the Japanese currency in five months. The dollar index (DXY) , a measure of the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, recently traded at 80.216, down about 9% from a week earlier.