Even if the national headlines weren't already providing enough focus on the economy, plenty of economic data is due out as the month and the quarter wind down. U.S. economic data scheduled to be released this week include:

• Personal income (Aug. 2008): Monday 8:30 AM
• Consumer confidence index (Sept, 2008): Tuesday 10:00 AM
• Challenger job cut announcement (Sept, 2008): Wednesday 7:30 AM
• ISM manufacturing survey (Sept. 2008): Wednesday 10:00 AM
• Construction spending (Aug. 2008): Wednesday 10:00 AM
• New motor vehicle sales (Sept. 2008): Wednesday 4:00 PM
• Monster employment index (Sept. 2008): Thursday 6:00 AM
• Factory orders (Aug. 2008): Thursday 10:00 AM
• Employment situation (Sept. 2008): Friday 8:30 AM
• ISM nonmanufacturing survey (Sept. 2008): Friday 10:00 AM

Other economic events scheduled for this week include:

• Fed's Hoenig speaks on "The Economy and Monetary Policy": Monday 9:45 PM
• Fed's Lockhart speaks on the economic outlook: Tuesday 1:00 PM
• Ford Motor Co. September 2008 Sales Conference Call: Wednesday 1:00 PM
• AMETEK Inc. at Oppenheimer Industrials Conference: Thursday 8:00 AM
• DuPont at Citigroup Ethanol on the Cob Conference: Thursday 12:50 PM
• Fed's Evans speaks at Agricultural Markets and Food Price Inflation conference: Thursday 1:00 PM
• Fed's Bullard speaks at Indiana University Department of Economics: Thursday 7:00 PM
• Fed's Hoenig speaks on "The Economy and Monetary Policy": Thursday 9:45 PM
• National Association for Business Economics 50th Annual Meeting to address Future Economic Challenges: Friday 9:00 PM

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) profits rose 30%, easily beating analysts' expectations.
• AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) beat Q1 estimates on global strength and recent acquisitions.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) easily beat Q2 expectations but offered a weak outlook.
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) posted strong Q1 results thanks to the popularity of the iPhone.
• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) beat earnings and saw an upgrade from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Q1 profit soared, and it raised its guidance.
• Cymer Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI) beat Q1 estimates and announced a share million buyback program.
• Electronic Data Systems Inc. (NYSE: EDS) posted Q1 profits on cost cutting and new contracts.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Q1 earnings fell on on acquisition-related charges.
• Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL) beat Q1 estimates on increased commercial aerospace sales.
• Huaneng Power ADS (NYSE: HNP) earnings plunged on coal prices, but the stock went higher.
• Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) narrowed its loss on higher sales of networking services.
• McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Q1 profit plunged on product development and marketing costs.
• MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) missed analysts' estimates for the first quarter.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) beat earnings expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) profit soared in the first quarter on increase in subscriptions.
• Nintendo Co. (OTC: NTDOY) posted record results due to the popularity of the Wii system.

AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) manufactures and markets electronic instruments and electromechanical devices in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The firm's Electronic Instruments Group makes testing, monitoring and calibration instruments for the aerospace, transportation, research, industrial and power markets. Its Electromechanical Group produces motors, blowers, fans, heat exchangers and connectors for appliance, defense, medical and computer applications. The group also makes industrial specialty metals. General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) are major competitors.

The firm pleased investors last week, when it reported fiscal Q4 EPS of 57 cents and revenues of $583.3 million. Analysts had been looking for 53 cents and $553 million. Management also predicted FY08 EPS of $2.40-$2.45, versus Street consensus of $2.43. Friedman Billings subsequently boosted its rating on the shares to "outperform".

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Orbitz Worldwide (OWW), Agilent (A), National Instruments (NATI) and Ametek (AME) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) was initiated by a host of firms today:
  
• Thomas Weisel and Morgan Stanley started Orbitz with an Overweight rating.
  
• Pacific Crest and Piper Jaffray started shares with Overweight ratings, and $18 and $16 targets, respectively.
  
• Stifel initiated Orbitz with a Buy rating and $16 target, while JP Morgan started shares with a Neutral rating.

• Citigroup finds the valuation of Agilent (NYSE: A) attractive at current levels and started shares with a Buy rating, They expect a recovery in the company's Electronic Measurement business to drive shares to $43.

• Citigroup initiated National Instruments (NASDAQ: NATI) with a Hold rating and $40 target, saying that shares could suffer if PMI decelerates in 3Q07 or negatively inflects in 1Q08.

• Ametek (NYSE: AME) is is CIBC's top pick in the mid-cap Industrial Diversified area, due to the company's attractive asset portfolio and growth opportunities. CIBC initiated Ametek with a Sector Outperformer rating and $45 target...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Jefferies initiated WNS Holdings (NYSE: WNS) with a Hold rating.

• Cuisine Solutions (AMEX: FZN) was initiated with a Buy rating at BB&T.

• Gabelli initiated Interpublic Group (AMEX: IPG) with a Buy rating and $19 target.

• Ferris Baker Watts initiated DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) with a Buy rating and $29.50 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AstraZeneca (AZN), Ametek (AME), InterNAP Network Services (INAP) and Rosetta Genomics (ROSG) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Cowen believes AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) faces challenges from patent expirations, patent challenges, high-risk pipeline and value creation from deals, and initiated shares with a Neutral rating.

• Ametek (NYSE: AME) was initiated at Friedman Billings with an Outperform rating and $44 target, as the firm believes AME has turned into a collection of niche-oriented high-value-added manufacturers of precision instrumentation, resulting in a high-margin, high-return business with above average growth.

• InterNAP (NASDAQ: INAP) was initiated at Thomas Weisel with an Overweight rating, as the firm is positive on INAP's unique service offerings, VitalSteam acquisition opportunities, high growth customers, and improving collocation and bandwidth demand fundamentals.

• Cantor expects Rosetta Genomics (NASDAQ: ROSG) to launch the world's first microRNA-based cancer diagnostic in the second-half of 2008 with a market of $200 million, and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $15 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America initiated shares of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings (NYSE: SPR) with a Buy rating and $42 target.

• Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at BMO Capital.

• Merrill Lynch initiated shares of JMP Group (NYSE: JMP) with a Buy rating.

• UBS initiated shares of Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI) with a Neutral rating and $82 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).