One-fifth of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average will report third-quarter results next week as the reporting season picks up steam.

Meanwhile the consumer price index, to be released Thursday, is expected to show inflation rose only 0.2% in September.

U.S. stock markets will be open Monday, though government offices will close for the Columbus Day holiday.

 
   IBM's Earnings To Rise; Intel's Likely Down

Two tech giants are among the companies posting third-quarter results next week. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), slated to report Thursday, is expected to show higher earnings but slightly lower sales, and services are likely to be one of the key yardsticks by which Big Blue's business is measured. Intel Corp. (INTC), the world's biggest semiconductor company, reports Tuesday, and its results are likely to be down significantly from a year earlier.

Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), which reports Thursday, is set to post its 12th-consecutive quarterly loss. Also reporting Thursday is search-engine giant Google Inc. (GOOG), which is seen posting higher results on cost cutting and advertisers' preference for online search ads during the economic downturn.

 
   Investment Banks Profit; Others To Show Losses

While JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the largest U.S. bank by market capitalization, and investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) are expected to post profits, Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (C), the No. 2 and No. 4 banks, respectively, are expected to post losses.

JPMorgan, which reports Wednesday, was helped by investment banking but likely had a loss in its credit-card business. By contrast, earnings of Goldman, which reports Thursday, are expected to more than double on improvement in the capital markets and its investment in the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (1398.HK). Its shares climbed roughly 20% during the quarter. Big banks continue to suffer from higher loan losses and weakness in capital markets, mortgage banking and commercial lending. Bank of America reports Friday; Citigroup a day earlier.

 
   J&J's Profit Likely To Be Moderately Lower

Health-care products giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is expected to report moderately lower earnings Tuesday, in part because of the loss of patent protection on such top-grossing products as antipsychotic drug Risperdal and epilepsy medication Topamax. Sales of its anti-anemia product Procrit will also likely be lower, due to tighter prescribing and Medicare-reimbursement restrictions. J&J's vast medical-devices unit is expected to produce mixed results.

 
   GE May Comment On Comcast-NBC Merger Talks

General Electric Co. (GE) posts third-quarter results Friday, two weeks after the conglomerate confirmed talks are under way to merge its NBC Universal media unit with Comcast Corp.'s (CMCSA) television networks. Investors will be closely scrutinizing GE's comments regarding the matter, which can only go through if Vivendi SA (VIVDY, VIV.FR) agrees to sell its 20% NBC Universal stake. Investors also will be taking the pulse of GE's bellwether industrial businesses for indications the economy is on the mend. GE is forecast to earn 20 cents a share, off significantly from 45 cents a year earlier.

 
   Small Rise Expected In Consumer Price Index

The CPI is expected to show an even-smaller increase for September than a month earlier. The measure of inflation, due out Thursday, rose slightly more than expected at 0.4% in August; the latest figure is seen at 0.2%.

The government will report on September retail sales and August business inventories Wednesday, the same day the Federal Reserve releases minutes from its recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Regional manufacturing reports will be issued by the New York and Philadelphia Feds on Thursday, and the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence index will be released the following day. Data on September industrial production also are due next Friday.

Among appearances by Fed officials: St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will speak Monday and Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn will speak Tuesday at the National Association for Business Economics' 51st annual meeting in St. Louis; New York Fed President William Dudley will speak Tuesday in New York; and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher will speak next Friday in Dallas.

 
   Senate Panel To Vote Tuesday On Health-Care Overhaul

The Senate Finance Committee will vote Tuesday on an $829 billion health-care bill, after months of efforts to gain consensus on the massive overhaul. The bill has been shepherded by Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., through lengthy negotiations since early spring. A cost estimate of the measure released this week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office cleared the way for a committee vote.

 
   Ex-Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Managers Go On Trial

A high-profile securities-fraud trial involving two former Bear Stearns hedge-fund managers, Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi, is scheduled to begin Tuesday in New York. The funds collapsed in the summer of 2007, costing investors roughly $1.4 billion, and Bear Stearns was sold off in a fire sale in early 2008. Prosecutors accused the men of misleading investors about the health of the funds. They have pleaded not guilty and said they, like their investors, were victims of a faltering market.

 
   Financial Regulators At Senate Panel Hearing

The Senate Banking Committee, which is drawing up a revamp of the financial regulatory system, plans to hear from top regulators Wednesday, giving agencies another opportunity to defend their turf as overhaul efforts move forward. Scheduled to testify are leaders of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve and Comptroller of the Currency. The committee's chairman, Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has suggested consolidating oversight of banks into one regulator, an idea that has its detractors in the House of Representatives and the Obama administration.

 
   Lehman To Ask Judge To Force Return Of Assets

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) will ask a New York bankruptcy judge Thursday to modify his order approving the sale of the collapsed investment bank's broker-dealer business to Barclays Plc (BCS, BARC.LN). Lehman is trying to force the U.K. bank to return billions in excess assets it says were transferred during the hasty sale conducted in the days after Lehman's collapse in September 2008. Barclays has called Lehman's claims "meritless."

 
   IRS Amnesty Deadline For Hiding Assets Abroad

Thursday is the deadline for U.S. citizens who have evaded taxes by hiding their foreign holdings to decide whether to turn themselves in to an Internal Revenue Service amnesty program. The deadline was postponed from Sept. 30 for the special voluntary disclosure program that began in March after Swiss bank UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX) turned over the names of more than 250 account holders as part of a criminal settlement.

 
   Business Council To Discuss Energy, Climate

Policy options for keeping U.S. businesses competitive in an era of energy and climate change will be the theme of the Business Council's fall meeting Thursday and Friday near Raleigh, N.C. More than 70 of the top executives of North America's largest companies are scheduled to attend. Survey results on members' outlook for the economy will be released. Several members of Congress also are expected.

 
   Frankfurt International Book Fair Opens Wed

The Frankfurt International Book Fair, the largest in the world, runs from Wednesday through next Sunday. It is expected to attract 7,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries. The previous fair had 286,000 visitors. This year, the fair's guest country of honor is China. Some 2,000 Chinese publishers, artists and writers are expected to attend, and the first of hundreds of exhibits, readings and author tours began this spring.

 
   Conferences

Among the significant conferences next week are the Roth Capital Partners China Conference from Monday through Wednesday in Miami Beach, Fla.; Dow Jones Newswires VentureWire Showcase Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in Redwood City, Calif.; and Standard & Poor's Healthcare Credit Trends Conference on Thursday in New York.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357; kathy.shwiff@dowjones.com

(Robert Tita, Bob Sechler and other Dow Jones Newswires staff contributed to this report.)