Monday
Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU) kicks off the new trading week with its quarterly report. The Chinese new media company has interests in everything from online gaming to web search, so its numbers should shed some light on cyberspace's popularity in the world's most populous nation.

Tuesday
It should be Turnaround Tuesday for U.S. Steel (NYSE: X). The steelmaker is projected to post its first quarterly profit in more than a year. Analysts see U.S. Steel coming through with net income of $0.61 a share. It has posted chunky deficits in each of the five previous quarters.

If the Turnaround Tuesday trolley hasn't left, let's go ahead and usher Valero (NYSE: VLO) aboard. The energy giant is also projected to reverse a year-ago loss with a substantial profit.

Wednesday
LoopNet (Nasdaq: LOOP) and iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) are just some of the names slated for Wednesday's batch of financial reports. LoopNet should provide a great glimpse into the state of commercial real estate, as it runs the industry's largest online marketplace. The brainy folks at iRobot are the ones behind the Roomba automated vacuum cleaners and Packbot military robots. Both companies are targeted to post improved bottom-line results.

Thursday
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is due up to the quarterly plate on Thursday. Don't be surprised if analysts skim over the past three months of financials to ask the company how its Droid X is selling. Motorola's shiny new phone is the Android flavor of the moment, and it came out after Motorola's quarter came to a close.

Friday
The trading week ends with Merck (NYSE: MRK) looking to fill Mr. Market's prescription for stability. The pros think it will do exactly that, posting a quarterly profit of $0.83 a share that is flat with last year's showing.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz