Inflation and housing data come first at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consumer-price index is expected to show an increase of 0.3 percent overall in June, and 0.2 percent excluding food and energy. That would compare with gains of 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent respectively in the previous month.
Inflation data has mostly been ignored in recent years, but the report could be more important now that traders are looking for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Economists forecast annualized housing starts of 1.12 million in June, up from 1.036 million in May. Building permits are expected to slow to 1.15 million from 1.275 million.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for July follows at 10 a.m. ET and is expected to rise to 96.5 from 96.1 in the previous month.
General Electric, Honeywell, Kansas City Southern, Progressive, and SunTrust Banks announce quarterly results before the opening bell.
The focus remains on earnings next week, with few important economic reports. Morgan Stanley and Halliburton get the ball rolling Monday morning, followed in the afternoon by IBM and Rambus.
Tuesday morning brings results from Verizon, Harley Davidson, United Technologies, and Lockheed Martin. Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Illumina, Intuitive Surgical, and GoPro are slated for the post-market.
Wednesday features mortgage applications, existing home sales, and crude-oil inventories. Boeing, Abbott Laboratories, EMC, Coca-Cola, Whirlpool, and Thermo-Fisher Scientific report in the morning. American Express follows in the afternoon, along with chip makers such as Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Xilinx, SanDisk, and Cirrus Logic.
Thursday's agenda includes jobless claims and natural-gas inventories. General Motors, Caterpillar, Celgene, 3M, Union Pacific, PulteGroup, Eli Lilly, and Comcast are some of the major names in the pre-market. Amazon.com, Juniper Networks, Starbucks, E*Trade Financial, and Visa report after the closing bell.
The subsequent overnight session brings preliminary manufacturing indexes for China and Europe.
New home sales are the only economic number Friday morning. America Airlines, AbbVie, Biogen, and Johnson Controls issue results as well.
