Europe Elections, Jobless Claims in Focus for Coming Week

The bigger pieces of economic data next week are the producer price index and the University of Michigan read on consumer sentiment, both of which come out on Friday.

The producer price index was flat in March, and the consensus is calling for more of the same in April, according to Thomson Reuters. Last month's consumer sentiment report was revised to 76.4 from the first reading of 75.7. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the survey to tick down to 76.2.

Krosby will be watching Thursday's initial jobless claims report, in particular the four-week moving average. She said that, "especially after Friday's number, you want to see the data get better or get materially weaker to have the Federal Reserve show its hand. We have mixed data right now."

Initial jobless claims are anticipated to come in at 365,000, according to Briefing.com.

Another area that Krosby will be watching next week is the 10-year and 30-year Treasury bond auctions. She's been keeping an eye on the 10-year yield because "it's disconcerting that the market is going higher, but it's not being confirmed by the 10-year yield. That's telling us that investors still believe the economy is slowing."

This week marked the start of trading in May, and the old adage "Sell in May and go away" got lots of play. Krosby thinks that there may be some selling happening in May, but it's a little different this time around.

"It's not because of the calendar, but it's more to do with the data," she said. "And it has more to do with the Fed and the notion that things get bad and Bernanke has said the Fed will be more accommodative. It makes it hard to sell in May and go away when the Fed may come in with the June meeting maybe and offer the market more accommodation. You don't want to be out of the market when the Fed is going to be helping to stimulate market activity."

Earnings reports to look out for next week include Dow components Cisco(CSCO) and Walt Disney(DIS) , as well as News Corp.(NWSA) and Priceline.com(PCLN) .

Disney is slated to report on Tuesday, and the other three companies are scheduled for Wednesday. Analysts, on average, anticipate Disney will earn 55 cents a share on revenue of $9.56 billion.

Expectations for Cisco are for earnings per share of 47 cents on $11.58 billion; News Corp. is anticipated to post EPS of 31 cents on revenue of $8.24 billion; and Priceline.com is slated to report EPS of $3.94 on revenue of $1.04 billion.