Earnings and monetary policy are key for this week. Both the U.S. FOMC and Bank of Japan (BOJ) have rate decision meetings ending on Wednesday. It goes without saying that market participants are most concerned with the Fed’s decision and clearly expect another rate cut (by 0.25%). Unfortunately, Japanese stocks remain vulnerable because a negative surprise for U.S. market players from the Fed means “sell sell sell” for everyone.

Still, another rate cut, even if not by 0.50%, means the U.S. economy is indeed in trouble. Granted the problems are surrounding real estate, the problems are far reaching from credit market liquidity to job layoffs increasing in the financial sector, spelling trouble not only for directly related entities such as builders and suppliers, but also the broader economy (think “retail”). Somewhat interestingly, the weak U.S. dollar bodes well for U.S. multinationals. The question is how strong the global economy can be with tighter U.S. retail spending. Meanwhile, with sustained high commodities prices, the Fed still has to watch inflation.

Nikkei 225 futures in Osaka rallied 270 points to 16,665 on Friday, following the Nikkei’s earlier 200+ point rally (N225 futures in Osaka ended at 16,490).

For the week, the Nikkei lost 1.8%, narrowed significantly by Friday’s 1.4% gain.

Here’s a look at who reported earnings on Friday (among companies with ADRs on NYSE/Nasdaq): Advantest (ATE) (JP: 6857), Nidec (NJ) (JP: 6594), Nissan (NSANY) (JP: 7201), NTT DoCoMo (DCM) (JP: 9437).

Who reports on Tuesday: FUJIFILM (FUJI) (JP: 4901), Kyocera (KYO) (JP: 6971) and Matsushita (MC) (JP: 6752).

Wednesday: Hitachi (HIT) (JP: 6501), Makita (MKTAY) (JP: 6586) and TDK (TDK) (JP: 6762).

And Friday: Mitsui (MITSY) (JP: 8031).