The Fool's Look Ahead

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Here's a taste of what will be on the market's plate next week.

Monday
China's leading search engine kicks off the new trading week with its third-quarter report after the market close Monday. Analysts expect Baidu's (Nasdaq: BIDU) earnings to climb 21% to $1.78 a share. It may seem ambitious, but China's economy has bounced back nicely this year.

Tuesday
If it's Tuesday, it must be discount brokers. E*TRADE (Nasdaq: ETFC) and TD AMERITRADE (Nasdaq: AMTD) are up for their quarterly close-ups. E*TRADE is projected to post a substantially smaller deficit than it did a year ago, whereas TD AMERITRADE is expected to post a smaller profit. Narrower loss or smaller profit? It's tough to choose which one investors would be more receptive to, though E*TRADE's slow progress toward outright profitability is a good sign.

Wednesday
LoopNet (Nasdaq: LOOP) reports. Tune in even if you don't own a piece of the leading online marketplace for commercial real estate. The company's conference call is bound to shed light on the state of commercial real estate, a roughed-up sector after coping with the one-two punch of the corporate slowdown and the real estate market's crash.

Thursday
Thursday will be a good day to take the pulse of the leisure market, with Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) and Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) checking in. If the economy is on the mend, premium golf clubs and online travel portals should bounce back with it.

Friday
The trading week closes with the exchange itself -- NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) -- holding its quarterly conference call. The markets may be rallying and the IPO pipeline is finally giving NYSE reasons to hand out new ticker symbols, but analysts still see the company earning $0.46 a share for the period, far less than the $0.72 a share it rang up a year ago. Closing bell, don't be late!

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz