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

Monday, June 2

• Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF) reporting Q4 earnings; conference call at 9:00am.
• Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) conference call at 9:30am on new multimedia computer-on-a-chip products.
• Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) reports Q1 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm

Tuesday, June 3

• Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) to report May sales at 1:00pm.
  
• General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) to report May sales at 2:00pm.
  
• Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 2:00pm.
• Bob Evans Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: BOBE) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 4:00pm.

As one quarter rolls over into the next, here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) beat fourth-quarter expectations and offered a positive outlook for fiscal 2009.
• CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) beat Wall Street earnings estimates for the fourth quarter.
• Citi Trends Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) beat fourth-quarter estimates and offered a rosy outlook for fiscal 2009.
• Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) swung to a fourth-quarter loss but beat estimates.
• Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO) beat second-quarter estimates but slashed its full-year outlook.
• Immucor Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUD) beat third-quarter expectations and offered a positive full-year outlook.
• Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) beat second-quarter expectations but the full-year outlook disappointed.
• Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) third-quarter earnings surged on strong demand and higher crop prices.
• Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) results on path to continue an 18-year earnings/revenue growth streak.
• Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) posted solid fourth-quarter results on strength of JBoss and other offerings.
• Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) fourth-quarter earnings and revenue more than doubled.
• Ruby Tuesday Inc. (NYSE: RT) third-quarter earnings beat low expectations; full-year outlook is bleak.
• Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHL) announced disappointing third-quarter results post-Harry Potter.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) writes off $19 million for the first quarter and shows chairman the door.

Also, prospects look grim for some newspapers. The financial crisis in the U.S. prompted the IMF to cut its global growth forecast.

Upcoming results to watch for include Alcoa (NYSE: AA), Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC), Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), and General Electric (NYSE: GE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Immucor (NASDAQ: BLUD) provides automated systems used by hospitals, clinical laboratories and blood banks to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of human blood prior to transfusion. Products are primarily used to type blood and detect foreign antibodies. Immucor sells its systems and reagent tests directly in North America, Western Europe and Japan.

The company made news earlier in the week, when it reported Q3 EPS of 27 cents and revenues of $67.3 million. Analysts had been looking for 22 cents and $62.9 million. Management also guided FY08 EPS to at least 96 cents (92 cent consensus) and FY08 revenues to at least $257 million ($255.89M consensus).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Infinera, Dawson Geophysical and Electro-Optical Sciences were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Thomas Weisel said Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) has unique technology that will result in a sustained competitive differentiation, increases customer diversification and improving margins. The firm started shares with an Overweight rating and $13 target.
  
• Dawson Geophysical (NASDAQ: DWSN) was initiated with a Hold rating and $72 target at Jefferies, as they believe the stock is fairly-valued at current levels.
  
• Jesup & Lamont initiated Electro-Optical Sciences (NASDAQ: MELA) with a Buy rating and $8 target. The believes MELA's Melafind is a breakthrough technology for the diagnosis of melanoma.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Piper resumed coverage of PMI Group (NYSE: PMI) with a Neutral rating and $6 target.
  
• Susquehanna initiated Immunocor (NASDAQ: BLUD) and Given Imaging (NASDAQ: GIVN) with Positive ratings.
  
• Merrill started Liberty Entertainment (NASDAQ: LMDIA) with a Neutral rating.

Given the steady need for emergency and surgical transfusions, it's imperative that routine blood bank tests be performed quickly and accurately. A leading maker of systems that automate such work is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.

Immucor (NASDAQ: BLUD) provides automated systems used by hospitals, clinical laboratories and blood banks to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of human blood, prior to transfusion. Products are primarily used to type blood and detect foreign antibodies. The firm received FDA clearance for its third-generation automated analyzer, the Galileo Echo, in June of this year.