There's never a dull week on Wall Street. Let's go over some of the news that will shape the week to come.
Monday
The first trading day of the week, month, and quarter kicks off with A. Schulman (SHLM +0.00%) posting quarterly results. The provider of plastic compounds and resin may not be toiling away in a very glitzy industry, but results matter. A. Schulman has been able to push through three consecutive years of higher dividend rates as consistent growth continues.
Tuesday
Acuity Brands (AYI +1.30%) reports on Tuesday. The lighting specialist is expected to post net income of $0.88 a share, just ahead of the $0.82 it posted a year earlier. Let's illuminate the situation, if you'll pardon the wordplay. It would be a gamble to assume that Acuity will please investors. It merely met Wall Street's bottom-line target a quarter ago and actually fell short in each of the two prior periods.
Wednesday
A couple of potential summer blockbusters open on Wednesday. Despicable Me 2 seems like a slam dunk. The first family-friendly computer-animated feature in what is now a franchise raked in $251.5 million in domestic ticket sales.
However, the real unknown will be The Lone Ranger. Disney's (DIS 1.66%) brazen attempt at a reboot will be closely watched in Hollywood. The trio behind the movie -- actor Johnny Depp, director Gore Verbinski, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer -- teamed up for the Pirates of the Caribbean series that surprised the industry by breathing new life into movies about swashbucklers. Now the three are trying to do for Westerns what they did for pirate films.
Thursday
The market is closed in observance of Independence Day. If somehow you're not privy to tasty cookouts and flashy fireworks displays, please don't turn on CNBC or pull up a stock quote. The market's closed on Thursday. Really.
Friday
Things will also be quiet on Friday, even though the exchanges themselves will be open for trading.
Nor can investors take the weekend off, as Microsoft's (MSFT 2.77%) Worldwide Partner Conference 2013 kicks off on Sunday. The software giant is hoping to make it worthwhile for attendees, offering Surface RT tablets for as little as $99 for registered guests. Then again, the all-conference pass costs nearly $2,000, so we can't exactly call this a neat trick to get a cheap Windows tablet.
Microsoft expects 16,000 attendees from more than 160 countries to talk shop in Houston during the five-day event. Investors will naturally be checking in from the outside in case the tech bellwether makes any fundamentals-altering announcements.
