US Stock Market on Shaky Ground

With no quick fix in sight to the sovereign debt issues plaguing Greece and other parts of Europe, the U.S. stock market’s roller coaster ride is unlikely to end in the weeks ahead. Watching Europe is important. They import a lot, and they export a lot, so they have a lot of influence over what’s going on around the world.

On Friday, the major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply for a second consecutive session, yet still managed to halt a weekly losing streak before it hit a third week, as investors tracked the euro’s decline on worries about Europe’s debt crisis, with Wall Street detouring around reports illustrating slow but steady improvement in the U.S. economy.

Making a triple-digit move for an 11th session out of the last 14, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 162.79 points, or 1.5%, to finish at 10,620.16, leaving it up 2.3% for the week after a two-week slide.

It’s the global growth story and concerns this is going to dampen the global recovery and increase credit risk. There’s a big question mark around how much damage is this going to do to an economy that is just starting to chug along.

And, while the current earnings season is mostly over, the coming days will bring results from a collection of big names, including results slated for Tuesday from three Dow components — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Twenty-three S&P 500 companies are expected to report earnings in the days ahead, including home-improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies Inc. on Monday, and tax preparation software firm Intuit Inc. on Thursday.

The S&P 500 Index on Friday declined 21.76 points, or 1.9%, to 1,135.68, up 2.2% from the week-ago close.

Results are also on tap from the technology sector, including Agilent Technologies Inc. [A] on Monday and Analog Devices Inc. [ADI] the next day. Computer Sciences Corp. [CSC] reports on Thursday, as does tax preparation software firm Intuit Inc. [INTU] .

Thursday also brings results from video game publisher Gamestop Corp. [GME] , shares of which were hit at the end of the last week after data pointed to a sharp April drop in sales of video games. .

The coming week also features results from retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch [ANF] on Tuesday and office-supplies retailer Staples Inc. [SPLS] on Thursday.

Muted outlooks from retailers that reported in the past week left some questioning recent signs of strength in consumer spending, even as J.C. Penney Co. [JCP] reported robust gains in sales and profits, a theme echoed by the likes of Macy’s Inc. [M] and Kohl’s Corp. [KSS] .

Blended share-weighted earnings for the S&P 500 for the first quarter stood at $183.3 as of Friday, above the prior week’s $182.4 billion, according to research compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The Nasdaq Composite Index [COMP] on Friday shed 47.51 points, or 2%, to 2,346.85, leaving it 3.6% higher from last Friday’s finish.