The week ahead: Qualcomm, Priceline report earnings

Qualcomm and Priceline.com will announce earnings this week. Jarred by earnings warnings and disappointing announcements, the Nasdaq is down 22 percent from its Sept. 1 value--an unsteady market for any company to post third-quarter results.

Several significant economic indicators are expected this week, possibly injecting further turmoil into stock markets. Statistics to be released include the unemployment rate, which is expected to remain low at 4 percent, and hourly earnings, which are expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

Conferences and events are abundant this week, particularly in California, which is hosting the Web2000 International Conference & Exposition in San Francisco and the Semiconductor Industry Association Dinner in San Jose.

The information was gathered from First Call/Thomson Financial, Hoover's Online, CCBN's StreetEvents and CNET Investor.

Other events scheduled this week:

	Tech Events

Monday, Oct. 30

• The First Annual Federal GNU and Linux Users' Conference and Awards Presentation will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. This one-day conference will present agency plans and strategies for launching new Linux applications. Speakers will include Piers McMahon, business manager at Computer Associates, and Jim Craft, chair of the Security Practices Subcommittee of the Chief Information Officer's Council.

• Linux Expo Canada will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto. Speakers will include Red Hat chairman Bob Young and Oracle senior director Steve Illingworth.

• The Web2000 International Conference & Exposition will take place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The five-day conference is aimed at Web professionals and will provide information about evaluating, implementing and anticipating the latest Web tools and technologies. Speakers include B.J. Fogg, director of research and design at Stanford's Persuasive Technology Lab, and Marney Morris, the founder of Animatrix.

• The eCustomary Intimacy conference will take place between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 in Boston. The conference will examine strategies for building and managing relationships online. Speakers include Mary Modahl, vice president of marketing at Forrester Research, and B. Joseph Pine II, co-founder of Strategic Horizons.

• The Prudential Securities Technology and Telecommunications Conference will take place Oct. 30 in New York. Presenting companies include Palm, Micron Technology and Selectron.

• Chase H&Q Connected 2000: The 3rd Communications Symposium will take place in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

• Dataquest Semiconductors 2000 will take place Oct. 30-31 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego. Analysts and industry executives from leading companies will offer analysis on the most important issues confronting the semiconductor industry.

Tuesday, Oct. 31

• The Business Applications for Mobile and Wireless Computing in Government conference will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include representatives from Palm, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, Verizon Wireless and Oracle.

• Meta Group's Customer Relationship Management Forum will take place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2 in Los Angeles. Part of DCI's CRM Exposition, the forum will provide perspectives to enhance customer intimacy, increase product innovation, and achieve an understanding of next-generation CRM solutions.

• ePubExpo will take place at the Millennium Hotel and Conference Center in New York. The two-day conference will focus on management, distribution, sales and protection of digital content.

• The eCustomer Conference & Exposition will take place at the L.A. Convention Center between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. The conference will focus on attracting, identifying, selling to and servicing online customers.

Wednesday, Nov. 1

• Healthcare Security & Privacy will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

• The Gerard Klauer Mattison 10th Annual Toy and Interactive Entertainment Conference will take place in New York.

• The Semiconductor Industry Association Dinner will take place at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif. The trade group uses this dinner to make its forecasts for the upcoming year. Speakers will include executives with AMD and LSI Logic.

• The eSticky Marketing conference is a two-day event that will take place at the Tremont Hotel in Boston. The conference will focus on turning a profit from a usable Web site.

• The Art Frontiers conference will take place at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, Calif. The conference will explore the intersection between art and technology.

	Earnings

Monday, Oct. 30

• Verizon Communications is the No. 1 local phone company in the United States and the No. 2 telecommunications services provider, behind AT&T. It was formed out of a merger between Bell Atlantic and GTE. Per-share consensus estimate: 73 cents.

• Nextlink Communications offers a range of high-speed connectivity offerings, including fiber direct to buildings, DSL (digital subscriber line) and planned fixed-wireless networks. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of $1.27.

• AT&T Canada is Canada's No. 1 competitive local-exchange carrier, offering facilities-based data, Internet, and local and long-distance voice services to businesses nationwide. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 95 cents.

• eToys sells toys online. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 35 cents.

• Expedia is an online travel site formed by Microsoft. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 26 cents.

• EarthLink is an information service provider. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 37 cents.

• America Online Latin America offers Internet access to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking customers, as well as features such as Web communities, email and instant messaging. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 10 cents.

• Stamps.com sells postage over the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 85 cents.

Thursday, Nov. 2

• Genuity provides Internet access (dial-up, dedicated and digital subscriber line), transport and transit of data traffic, Web hosting, and e-commerce services. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 27 cents.

• Priceline.com sells name-your-own-price airline tickets, gasoline, groceries and other items online. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 1 cent.

• Jupiter Media Metrix publishes syndicated and custom reports for more than 1,900 customers. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 8 cents.

• Qualcomm pioneered code-division multiple access (CDMA) technology (used in cell phones), wireless telecom equipment and satellite ground stations. Per-share consensus estimate: 24 cents.

	Economic Reports

Monday, Oct. 30

• Personal income shows the monthly percentage change in household income from the Commerce Department. This number is expected to rise 0.6 percent for September.

• New home sales are the number of new homes sold in the United States. This number is expected to be 900,000 for September.

• Auto sales represents the number of new cars sold in the United States. No estimate was available.

Wednesday, Nov. 1

• Construction spending is the amount that businesses spend to build new offices or factories. Spending for September is expected to rise 0.5 percent.

• Initial claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits. No estimates were immediately available.

• Productivity refers to the change in non-farm business productivity at annual and quarterly percentage rates from Labor Department estimates. This number is expected to be 3.5 percent.

Friday, Nov. 3

• Nonfarm Payrolls represents the change in total non-farm employment. This number is expected to rise by 190,000 for October.

• Unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed adults, as estimated monthly by the Labor Department. This number is expected to be 4 percent for October, up from 3.9 percent in September.

• Hourly earnings are the percentage change in hourly earnings in the private sector as estimated monthly by the Labor Department. This number is expected to be 0.3 percent for the month of October.

• Average workweek is the percentage change in hourly earnings in the private sector, as estimated monthly by the Labor Department. This number is expected to be 0.3 percent for the month of October.

Also this week

• AMD on Monday will come out with chipsets that allow computer makers to combine the company's Athlon processors with Double Data Rate (DDR) DRAM, a faster version of standard computer memory, or SDRAM, according to sources.

• Sprint said it is preparing an announcement for this week that will outline its shift to become more focused on data services, an area in which it already has some expertise.