Cars, cable, and construction will color in the week that lies ahead.

Monday
The week starts with Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) rolling in. The maker of construction and mining machinery is typically a good gauge of industrial spending. Are earnings rising? Is the bottom line falling? Extremists are likely out of luck, because analysts see Caterpillar earning $0.39 a share -- exactly what it rang up a year earlier.

Tuesday
Ford (NYSE: F) drives up. General Motors may be making headlines for recently paying back its bailout lifeline, but Ford is the one that has put together several months of eye-popping improvement in new car sales. Wall Street sees net income of $0.31 a share, refreshingly reversing a sharp loss a year ago.

Wednesday
General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) take to the earnings stage. The companies are heading in different directions. The pros see defense contractor General Dynamics posting slightly lower earnings, while pegging cable giant Comcast to post bottom-line improvement.

Thursday
Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) is scheduled to meet with NASDAQ OMX Group (Nasdaq: NDAQ) to appeal its pending delisting. Then again, if Sirius XM's stock can close with a bid price above $1 for 10 consecutive days, this meeting wouldn't even be necessary because the satellite radio provider would have met the exchange's listing requirements.

If the meeting proves to be uneventful -- as it likely will be, because it's hard to fathom Nasdaq booting one of its most actively traded stocks -- don't forget to place a wake-up call. NASDAQ OMX Group reports its quarterly results the next day.

Friday
D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) hammers a roof on the trading week with its quarterly results. Homebuilders have been posting improved results in recent months, typically in the form of narrower deficits. D.R. Horton should be no different.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz