Schacknow, TODAY's PRIMER, March 22, 2012

Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk

The stock market’s recent rally is in pause mode: the Dow has fallen in three of the past four sessions, the S&P 500 has lost ground for two consecutive days, and even the Nasdaq, which posted a small gain Wednesday, has alternated between gains and losses for five sessions.

Today is the week’s busiest day for economic stats, starting with the Labor Department’s initial jobless claims report at 8:30am ET. Economists are looking for 355,000 new claims for the week ending March 17, compared to 351,000 the prior week.

At 10am ET, the Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators is expected to post a gain of 0.6% for February following January’s 0.4% increase. At the same time, the FHFA is expected to report a 0.3% increase in home prices for January vs. December, following December’s 0.7% advance.

This marks the fourth straight day this week that a housing related stat will be issued – a streak that will continue tomorrow with the release of February new home sales. And finally, the EIA is out with its weekly look at natural gas inventories at 10:30am ET.

FedEx (FDX) leads this morning’s corporate earnings calendar, with ConAgra (CAG) and Gamestop (GME) also set to report. After the bell, we’ll see the latest numbers from Accenture (CAN), Micron Technology (MU), and Nike (NKE).
Dow component McDonald’s (MCD) leads our stocks to watch list, following CEO Jim Skinner’s announcement that he’ll retire on June 30th. Current president and chief operating officer Don Thompson will succeed Skinner, who has served as CEO since 2004 and has been with McDonald’s for 41 years.

Raytheon (RTN) is also a stock to watch today, as the defense contractor raised its quarterly dividend to 50 cents from 43 cents, a 16.3% increase.

Diamond Foods (DMND) will be watched for reaction to several pieces of news: it’s reached an agreement with lenders to amend its credit agreements and give it access to funds through June 18th. It will make its loan payments, suspend its dividends, and look for ways to strengthen its balance sheet. At the same time, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Diamond is talking to private equity firms about a possible minority investment.

Retailer Urban Outfitters (URBN) is also in the news after the announcement that chief financial officer Eric Artz is stepping down. He’ll depart April 3, with chief accounting officer Frank Conforti replacing Artz. It’s the second prominent executive resignation this year, with CEO Glen Senk having departed in January after five years on the job.

Payment processor Vantiv (VNTV) debuts on the New York Stock Exchange today after its IPO was priced at $17 per share, in the middle of the expected range of $16 to $18.

Sony (SNE) will reportedly name film unit co-chairman Michael Lynton to head its U.S. operations in a management reshuffling, according to the Financial Times.

Apple (AAPL) is in the news once again, with South Korean media reporting that the company’s next iPhone will have a bigger 4.6 inch “retina” display and will be launched during the second quarter.