This week: Housing data, Apple, IBM profits

Earnings season will pick up steam next week  with a parade of reports from technology bellwethers such as Apple, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft as well as retail giants McDonald's and Starbucks. The second quarter got off to a solid start last week, with most companies beating estimates.

Apple's stock has been weighed down by fears that China's slowing economy is curbing consumers' appetite for smartphones and other gadgets. Still, the tech colossus is expected to post earnings of $1.79 per share, up from $1.28 a year ago. Amazon, meanwhile, is forecast to show a loss of 18 cents a share, down from a 27-cent loss . But the profits of both IBM and Microsoft are expected to narrow.

McDonald's, which has struggled recently amid a trend toward healthier food, is expected to report per-share earnings of $1.23, down from $1.40 a year ago, while Starbucks should ring in 41 cents a share, up 20%.

Economic news will be dominated by the housing market, which has shown signs that it's poised to help drive the economy this year after extreme winter weather slowed activity in the first quarter. Existing sales surged 5.1% in May to the highest level in six years as strong job and income growth spurred buyers. An encouraging development is that the share of first-time home buyers in the market rose to 32% in May from 30% in April and 27% a year earlier, according to UBS and the National Association of Realtors. Millennials who moved in with their parents during and after the recession are increasingly renting or buying their own units. Meanwhile, the share of sales of owner-occupied homes is rising, while investor sales are slipping.

On the downside, a tight inventory of available homes looms as a possible headwind, says Lewis Alexander, Nomura's chief economist. Yet with an index of pending home sales — which foreshadows future sales — up a solid 0.9% in May, economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Realtors group on Wednesday to report a similar increase in sales for June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.4 million.

New homes are typically purchased by higher-income existing homeowners and represent about 16% of the market. New-home sales also have picked up recently, rising 2.2% in May. Economists expect the Commerce Department on Friday to report that the market paused a bit in June, with sales dipping 1.1%.

Follow Paste BN economics reporter Paul Davidson on Twitter @PDavidsonusat.