The final figure for fourth-quarter gross domestic product, due next week, is expected to show a steeper drop in U.S. economic activity than previously reported.

Data on February home sales also will be reported, while more retailers will shed more light on the holiday shopping season as they post quarterly results.

Bonuses paid to executives at American International Group Inc. (AIG) will remain in the news as President Barack Obama answers questions in a televised news conference and the Fed chairman and Treasury Secretary testify before Congress.

 
   4Q GDP, Home Sales Figures Due

The government will release the final figure on fourth-quarter GDP on Thursday and data on existing and new home sales in February on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Earlier this month, GDP was revised to a decline of 6.2% from the first estimate of a 3.8% drop reported in January. The final figure is likely to be even worse: a decline of 6.3% to 6.6%. The 6.2% decrease represents the steepest drop-off since the depths of the 1982 recession.

Lower new and existing home sales also are predicted, continuing general trends since the fall. In January, new home sales fell 10.2% to the slowest pace since records began in 1963, and pending existing home sales slowed by 7.7%, the weakest since the series began in 2001.

Also out Wednesday are details on February durable goods orders, which are likely to show their seventh-consecutive monthly decline. The government reports on February personal income and spending Friday; both figures rose in January. Also Friday, Reuters/University of Michigan issues its final report on consumer sentiment in March. The preliminary sentiment reading for March was 56.6, up a bit from 56.3 in February.

Reports on regional manufacturing activity are due Monday from the Chicago Fed, Tuesday from the Richmond Fed and Thursday from the Kansas City Fed.

Among appearances by Federal Reserve officials: Chicago Fed President Charles Evans on Tuesday in Prague; Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto on Wednesday in Maurnee, Ohio; San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen on Wednesday in New York; Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart on Thursday in Paris; Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker on Thursday in Charleston, S.C.; and Minneapolis Fed President Gary Stern in Thursday in Minneapolis.

 
   Retailers To Post Quarterly Results

A variety of retailers, including drug-store chain Walgreen Co. (WAG), big-box electronics store Best Buy Co. (BBY) and jeweler Tiffany & Co. (TIF), will report quarterly results next week. Walgreen and Tiffany post results Monday and Best Buy on Thursday.

Also reporting are homebuilder KB Home (KBH), on Friday; technology outsourcing company Accenture Ltd. (ACN), on Thursday; and food producer ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG), also Thursday.

 
   J&J Drug Topamax Gets Generic Rival

A big-selling Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) drug for migraines and epilepsy, Topamax, will face generic competition when its U.S. market exclusivity expires Thursday. Mylan Inc. (MYL), which unsuccessfully tried to overturn the Topamax patent before it expired, plans to launch a cheaper version of the drug, and other generics may become available too. That could put a big dent in the $2.3 billion in U.S. sales the branded drug generated for J&J last year. J&J's pharmaceutical unit is feeling the pressure from patent expirations; last year, it lost U.S. market exclusivity for blockbuster antipsychotic Risperdal.

 
   Obama's 2nd Press Conference On TV Tuesday

President Obama will face reporters Tuesday for his second official press conference since taking office. The press conference will be at 8 p.m. EDT. The president is engaged in a media blitz to sell his $3.6 trillion budget and convince the public that his $787 billion recovery package will prod the economy back to life. He also will appear in a taped interview Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" program.

 
   Geithner, Bernanke To Testify On AIG

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are slated to testify before the House Financial Services Committee next week amid mounting questions over bonuses given to executives at the American International Group Inc. (AIG). Geithner and Bernanke are slated to testify Tuesday and Geithner will return Thursday.

The House passed legislation Thursday that would significantly curb Wall Street bonuses this year, and the Senate will take up a similar measure as early as next week. The Senate bill is less punitive, but would tax a larger number of employees and firms. It would impose a 70% surtax on most bonuses - half paid by employees and half by firms.

 
   Auto Task Force Statement Possible

Members of President Obama's auto task force told U.S. lawmakers that it might make an "illuminative" announcement as early as next week on bailout requests by General Motors Corp. (GM) and Chrysler LLC. The task force is considering requests by GM and Chrysler for almost $22 billion combined in new loans. GM and Chrysler are supposed to submit updated restructuring plans, including concessions by union workers and debtholders, by March 31.

 
   U.S. To Attend Meeting On Afghanistan

The U.S. State Department is dispatching a senior diplomat to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's conference on Afghanistan in Moscow next week, setting the stage for the first U.S.-Iran encounter under the Obama administration. Washington was rebuffed in earlier attempts to sit in on meetings of the Shanghai group, the members of which include Russia, China and Central Asian states. Observer states, which can attend meetings but don't vote on initiatives, include Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 
   Conferences

Among the significant conferences next week are the Bank of America Securities Smid Cap Conference on Monday and Tuesday in Boston, Howard Weil Energy Conference from Monday through Friday in New Orleans, Sidoti & Co. Emerging Growth Institutional Investor Forum on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York, and Think Equity ThinkGreen Conference from Tuesday through Thursday in San Francisco.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; kathy.shwiff@dowjones.com

(Peter Loftus and other Dow Jones Newswires staff contributed to this report.)