Alcoa (AA), Intel (INTC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) will kick off a new earnings season this week when they report their results for the fourth quarter of 2010. Here's a quick look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect to see, followed by a glance at what's coming up on the economic calendar.

Alcoa

During its fourth quarter, Alcoa saw increased demand in emerging markets, sold surplus properties, and shared revenue targets with investors. Analysts forecast that earnings for the period will come to 19 cents per share, up from just a penny per share in the same quarter of last year. The New York-based aluminum producer also is expected to post revenue of $5.7 billion for the three months that ended in December, which is 4.5% more than a year earlier.

Black Friday has come and gone and the holiday shopping season is off and running. In addition to keeping on eye on how retailers are doing, there will be plenty of other economic data for analysts and investors to peruse on this week.

• Monday: Chicago Fed's Midwest Manufacturing Index
• Tuesday: Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, S&P/Case-Schiller Home Price Index for Q3, Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index

Last week, the Fed's Beige Book report confirmed that the economy continues to grow, but at a slower pace than in previous periods. This week will bring plenty of economic data to either support or contrast with the Fed's findings.

• Monday: Federal government budget balance for August
• Tuesday: Business inventory numbers from July, TIPP Economic Optimism Index for September, retail sales data from August
• Wednesday: Industrial production in August, Empire State Manufacturing Survey for September, Import Price Index for August
• Thursday: Producer Price Index for August, Philly Fed Survey for September, the Current Account Balance in the second quarter, jobless claims for last week
• Friday: preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, Consumer Price Index for August, real earnings data for August

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book is a look back at the condition of the economy during the previous few months. The most recent report, issued Wednesday, quotes the Fed as saying the economy has shown widespread signs" of slowing over the recent weeks.

The Fed takes anecdotal reports from the 12 Federal Districts and highlights key points. Here are some of these data:

The Federal Reserve's next Beige Book report is scheduled to be released this week. This report is a compilation of anecdotal information on current economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts, and it is released eight times a year. The data comes from interviews with business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. While the June report showed modest growth across the districts, the July report showed that the economic recovery had slowed, even stalled in some districts.

Other economic data due out this holiday-shortened week include:

The earnings crunch rolls on this coming week, and the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for strong quarterly results from the likes of Avon (AVP), Coinstar (CSTR), Corning (GLW), DuPont (DD), MetLife (MET), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and many others. In fact, Broadcom (BRCM), Chevron (CVX) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) are expected to have doubled their second-quarter earnings per share compared to a year ago.

The three months that ended in June saw Southwest Airlines celebrate the 39th anniversary of its founding, and it also declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts expect the Dallas-based no-frills carrier to report that second-quarter earnings came to 27 cents a share, a 70.4% rise from a year earlier. Revenue for the period is expected to have grown 20.4% to $3.2 billion. So far, analysts predict similar earnings and revenue numbers for the third quarter. But earnings results were better than expected in the past four quarters, beating consensus estimates by as much as 47%.

The Federal Reserve's next Beige Book report is scheduled to be released this week. This report is a compilation of anecdotal information on current economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts, and it is released eight times a year. The data comes from interviews with business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The June report is expected to show strengthening signs of expansion, though results could be mixed across the 12 districts.

Economic data due out this week include:

The Federal Reserve's next Beige Book report is scheduled to be released this week. This report is a compilation of anecdotal information on current economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts, and it is released eight times a year. The data comes from interviews with business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The previous report, released in January, showed some improvement in most districts and growth in consumer spending over the holiday period, though unemployment remained high. The December report showed modest improvement in eight of the districts.

Retailers were in the earnings spotlight last week and for the most part made a strong showing of it. Even as the earnings season winds down, some more retailers are scheduled to release quarterly results this week.

The Fed's Beige Book summarizes economic activity compiled from data obtained from the 12 Federal Reserve districts.

Here are some notes from the Beige Book:

• Most districts reported that consumer spending was up a bit during the recent holiday season, but still below the 2007 level.
• Retailers in Philadelphia and San Francisco noted small gains, but they didn't amount
• to much.

The Federal Reserve's first Beige Book report of the year is due out this week. The report is a compilation of anecdotal information on current economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts. The data comes from interviews with business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The previous report, released in December, showed modest improvement in eight of the districts, while the October report confirmed that the economy was stabilizing after earlier declines.

The Fed's Beige Book is a report card on the status of the US economy.

This month's report says that our economy is still weak, but improving modestly. There is little upward pressure on wages and finished goods. Eight of the 12 regions reported some improvement. Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond and Atlanta showed little change.

So this earnings season hasn't turned out as bad as some had feared. In fact, we've seen some pretty stellar results from the likes of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Then there was the Fed's Beige Book report, which suggested that the U.S. economy had stabilized -- and even improved a bit in some sectors.

Well, the earnings crunch rolls on this coming week leading up to Halloween. Do analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect more treats or tricks from coming quarterly reports?