Despite earlier this week announcing disappointing first-quarter results, Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) says it expects its second quarter will be stronger. However, many analysts are skeptical, as the company’s attempted takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: JAVA) has not gone as smoothly as planned.

A longtime investment adage holds that “As goes Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), so goes the rest of the semiconductor industry.”

Even as investors get more and more bullish about the outlook for the U.S. economy, the economy’s underlying foundation continues to erode.

Several key second-quarter earnings reports could either validate or undercut assertions that the U.S. economy is poised for recovery.

Is high-tech stalwart Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) bucking the worst downturn since the Great Depression? It sure looks that way. Despite a cautious veneer during Apple’s quarterly conference call Tuesday, company executives ended up painting a picture of a company that continues to elbow aside recessionary pressures…

The feud between authorities in China and Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) escalated Wednesday night when Chinese users were blocked from Google’s global Web site for a period of at least two hours.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) is closing in quickly on its June 1 deadline to finish overhauling its operations, or opt for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Because that deadline is actually one week from yesterday (Monday), analysts and investors will be watching GM closely this week.

On the earnings calendar, as you can see from the ones I have listed there is a significant amount of retailers reporting this week. That’s only a partial list, here’s the rest: ANN, BJ, APP, DDS, HOTT, DKS, ARO, GPS, PSUN, NWY, ROST, and TJX.