Earnings Take a Back Seat to Fed, Potential Rate Hike

All eyes will be on the Fed next week, as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will meet to decide whether to hike interest rates. The decision should make for a very interesting press conference with Fed Chair Janet Yellen, following the 2 p.m. ET policy announcement on Wednesday. While a busy week for economic data could move stocks, the earnings lineup will continue to slow down, with Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) representing the main attraction, along with a handful of retailers.

Below is a brief list of some key market events scheduled for the upcoming week. All earnings dates listed below are tentative and subject to change. Please check with each company's respective website for official reporting dates.

There are no notable economic reports scheduled for release on Monday, March 13. Del Taco (TACO), Inovio (INO), and Tilly's (TLYS) are among the companies scheduled to report earnings.

On Tuesday, March 14, the two-day FOMC meeting will kick off, plus the producer price index (PPI) will hit the Street. Stepping up to the earnings stage are DSW (DSW) and PTC Therapeutics (PTCT).

Wednesday, March 15, will be a huge day for the stock market, as the Fed's meeting will conclude with a key rate decision, followed by Yellen's speech. Also slated for release are the consumer price index (CPI), retail sales, the Empire State manufacturing survey, business inventories, the NAHB housing market index, weekly crude inventories, and Treasury International Capital (TIC) data. Guess (GES), Jabil Circuit (JBL), and ORCL will enter the earnings confessional.

On Thursday, March 16, housing starts, weekly jobless claims, and the Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey will come out, along with the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). Reporting earnings will be Dollar General (DG), JA Solar (JASO), MannKind (MNKD), and Vivint Solar (VSLR).

Friday, March 17 -- which represents quadruple witching expiration -- brings the latest industrial production numbers, as well as the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. Tiffany (TIF) will close out the week's earnings docket.