As the second quarter earnings crunch begins in earnest this week, the bear market has investors jittery and prognosticators spinning out dire warnings. In the wake of mixed results from Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) kicking things off last week, here's a look at what Wall Street is expecting from many of the companies scheduled to report this coming week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting the following companies to report a rise in earnings when compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE): $1.80 EPS (36.6%) on sales of $6.4 billion (+53.0%)
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG): $4.74 EPS (24.9%) on sales of $3.9 billion (+41.6%)
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK): 56 cents EPS (23.2%) on sales of $19.9 billion (+17.8%)
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX): 90 cents EPS (21.1%) on sales of $2.9 billion (+12.8%)
• Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR): 27 cents EPS (18.5%) on sales of $346.7 million (+8.4%)
• IBM (NYSE: IBM): $1.82 EPS (+17.6%) on sales of $25.9 billion (+9.0%)
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): 41 cents EPS (17.1%) on sales of $2.2 billion (+18.0%)
• W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW): $1.46 EPS (17.1%) on sales of $1.7 billion (+8.0%)
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): 47 cents EPS (17.0%) on sales of $15.7 billion (+17.0%)
• Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON): 94 cents EPS (17.0%) on sales of $9.2 billion (+7.9%)

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says massive debt at the newspapers means they no longer work as businesses.

Maybe newspapers don't work as businesses. The shocking 10% workforce reduction announced this week by McClatchy (Cramer's Take) (NYSE: MNI), formerly the best-run chain out there, is a reminder that all of these companies have borrowed too much money and don't generate the cash flow to make it work. McClatchy, with an 8% yield, is showing signs of collapsing under its own weight, something that has been exacerbated by Wall of Shame performer Gary Pruitt, a man who is still, amazingly, the CEO.

But all of this was totally predictable. I have never seen an industry attract so many buyers with so much debt and so little equity.

Take Tribune (Cramer's Take). Sam Zell's a smart guy. He let the newspaper employees do the heavy lifting when he bought the Tribune company. That was so smart. He will be out very little if the deal fails. The workers will be out their retirement money. That was a smart deal -- unless you work there -- but I have spoken against that deal so many times I am sick of talking about it.

McClatchy could have weathered this downturn, instead of -- it is a bit unthinkable, but I think it will happen -- defaulting on its debt, if it hadn't been determined to buy a bunch of properties for much more than they are worth. The New York Times (Cramer's Take) (NYSE: NYT) and Gannett (Cramer's Take) (NYSE: GCI) spent a lot of money, but they didn't have to buy back stock. Gannett's 6% yield isn't tempting in the least.

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

• AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.
• Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: ABK) posted a wider-than-expected loss; shares hit new low.
• Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) beat Q2 estimates on strength in the managed services businesses.
• Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH) beat expectations in the first quarter and raised its guidance.
• Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) posted a larger-than-estimated Q1 loss.
• Aptar Group Inc. (NYSE: ATR) posted record Q1 results and raised its Q2 guidance.
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Q1 earnings plunged on further housing-related write-downs.
• Brinker International Inc. (NYSE: EAT) narrowly beat earnings expectations on cost cutting.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) beat analysts' estimates for the first quarter.
• Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) reported a wider-than-forecast loss on subprime-related write-downs.
• Cree Inc. (NYSE: CREE) earnings slipped while revenues soared 29%.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) reported worse-than-expected Q1 earnings on discontinued product charge.
• Gannet Inc. (NYSE: GCI) beat low expectations as earnings and revenue continue slump.
• Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings on international strength.
• JAKKS Pacific Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) missed Q1 expectations on restructuring and litigation costs.
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) beat EPS estimates by a penny, as revenue jumped 10%.

Stock futures are lower in early morning indicating to a similar start for the stock market ahead of some key economic data due to be released today.

At 8:30 a.m., before markets open, the Labor Department will report February's consumer price index. Economists forecast a 0.3% increase compared to a 0.2% increase in January. Ex-food and and energy, core CPI is expected to rise 0.2% after gaining 0.3% in the previous month. Investors will be watching this inflationary measure closely as the Fed meets to discuss interest rate policy next week. What's more, yesterday's PPI surprise is causing further concerns inflationary pressures are sill strong.

Despite PPI coming much higher than expected yesterday and other indication about mounting inflation (at the wholesale level) and slower economic growth, markets finished on a positive note. The reason, many speculate, has to do with several options and futures contracts expiring today bringing buyers into the market. Corporate M&A activity also helped strengthened stocks yesterday.

Other economic data will be reported today: February capacity utilization and industrial production figures will be released just before markets open. March consumer confidence is due at 10:00 a.m., after the open, and is expected to show a slight drop.

The dollar dropped to a three-months low against the euro ahead of the coming U.S. economic data that could further point to weakening U.S. economy. The dollar also lost ground against the yen and 12 other currencies.
After falling to near $57 a barrel, oil prices rose this morning.

In corporate news:

OMI Corp. (NYSE:OMN), operator of a fleet of oil tankers, may put itself up for sale. The company hired advisers to explore sale and its board is reviewing several strategic alternatives.

Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ:NSANY) CEO Carlos Ghosn would give up the duty of overseeing operations in the Americas. The automaker shuffles top management as it heads for its first annual profit decline in seven years.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• On its first page today, the Wall Street Journal highlighted Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) and the three major newspaper companies -- Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI), McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB).
  
• Tiffany and Co has been raising prices away to protect its classy image, even at the cost of profits. The company reports its holiday figures today, and investors will be looking closely at the company's results.
  
• Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune are preparing to jointly sell advertising on their websites in an attempt to win back advertisers that have defected from their papers to the Internet.
  
• The Journal also wrote that President Bush may issue an executive order endorsing nonembryotic stem cell work.
  
• The Barron's Online "Weekday Trader" focused on Time Warner Cable (OTC: TWCAV), which the article says will be in short supply when it moves from the over-the-counter market to the New York Stock Exchange next Monday.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Business Times reported that General Motors (NYSE: GM) is planning to make a bid for an unspecified stake in the Malaysian automaker Proton Holdings, as early as this month.
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote that Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY) is expected to acquire Leader Source, an executive coaching firm in Minneapolis.

Reuters Group (NASDAQ:RTRSY) may be an old company (founded in the 1840s), but it is still looking for ways to innovate (after all, the company got its start with a new technology called the telegraph).

Well, this week, the company invested $7 million in a start-up company, Pluck. Think of Pluck as a New Age distribution company – using things like RSS to syndicate blogs. The company has deals with biggies like the Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) and Gannett Co. (NYSE:GCI).

True, for a company like Reuters, a $7 million investment is not particularly large. It does, however, validate blogs as a source of good content. Actually, Reuters is already a user of the Pluck technology.

I interviewed Bill Flitter, who is the founder and V.P. of marketing at Pheedo (a top Web-based content distribution company). To him, the deal highlights two key trends:

"First, RSS is being used more and more to distribute pieces of content throughout the web and reassemble it in the most relevant and customized way. It is a simple technology that offers so many ways to move content around the web. It is really a versatile tool, a Swiss army knife of capabilities.

"Second, blogs are increasing in authority, but more importantly, readers of blogs and news stories are now able to participate in the story. This is a huge shift, especially since Reuters, a massive media outlet, is enabling this new social media concept. Readers can influence the news and what people read -- people can tell their version of the story now and not just read it through the lens of a gatekeeper."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.