Late on Thursday, oil giant Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) said it expects its fourth-quarter earnings to be "significantly lower" than its third quarter.

Automakers continued to suffer in December. General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) on Monday said that sales of its light vehicle slumped 31% December while Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) reported a 32.4% decline in December.

According to reports, Citigroup is contemplating merging its Smith Barney unit with the Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) brokerage unit. Former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin resigned from his position as senior counselor of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).

Investors in India got a rude shock on Wednesday after Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam (NYSE: SAY) India's fourth-largest outsourcer, resigned saying that the firm's profit had been inflated over the years. He was later arrested by the authorities.

On the earnings front, Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), the world's biggest seed maker, announced that its first quarter net income nearly doubled to $556 million or $1 a share from $256 million or 46 cents a share in the same quarter last year.

Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO), the discount retail chain reported that its fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 13.5% to $59.3 million, or 42 cents a share, from $51.9 million, or 37 cents a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago. Revenue grew to $1.75 billion from $1.68 billion in the same quarter in 2007.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) announced that its fourth quarter loss narrowed to $307.3 million or $3.96 a share, compared to a net loss of $772.7 million or $9.99 a share. Total revenues for the fourth quarter were $919.0 million, down from $2.07 billion for the year-earlier quarter.

Late on Wednesday, home-furnishings retailer, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) said that its third quarter net income plunged about 37% to $87.7 million or 34 cents a share from $138.2 million or 52 cents a share in the year ago quarter. Quarterly sales fell 0.7% to $1.783 billion from $1.795 billion in the third quarter of 2007.

Late on Thursday, the educational services provider Apollo Group Inc.(NASDAQ: APOL) reported that its first quarter net income rose to $180.4 million or $1.12 a share, from $139.9 million or 83 cents a share in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Revenue increased 24.4% to $971.0 million from $780.7 million in year ago quarter.

Crude Oil, which settled at $40.82 a barrel on Friday, lost almost 12% this week.

Looking ahead, Alcoa (NYSE: AA), Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), chip maker Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) and PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) are expected to report quarterly results next week.

Economic indicators on tap include December retail sales data as well as business inventories for November, due out Wednesday. Weekly jobless claims, December producer price index are scheduled for release on Thursday followed by consumer price index, industrial production and capacity utilization data for the month of December on Friday. Investors will be also keenly waiting Reuter/Michigan consumer sentiment index for the month of January, due for release on Friday.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.