On Friday the FDA announced that it will examine the potential heart risks of Novartis' (NVS) Parkinson's drug Stalevo. This comes as the FDA has been notably stricter with new drug approvals, and also very cautious with any drugs showing hear related risks.

More than 154,000 patients have been prescribed Stalevo since June 2003 and FDA action could hamper shares of Novartis stock. Novartis is also expecting to present Phase 3 data for both FTY720, Multiple Schlerosis Drug, and Zometa, Breast Cancer Drug, by the end of this year. Furthermore, Phase 3 Tasigna, for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) is expected in Q3.

A second week of earnings did little to clarify the market’s direction despite quality reports out of a host of important American corporations. After another flat Monday, markets surged on Tuesday after a strong report from Apple boosted hopes for the consumer discretionary sector as well as the electronics market. However, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke gave his biannual testimony to Congress on Wednesday in which he called the outlook for America’s economy ‘unusually uncertain’. He also stated that the Fed was considering other measures in order to boost the economy such as removing the interest that banks receive from keeping deposits at the Reserve which pushed equities down sharply and reignited fears over a double dip. However, equities rebounded to finish the week stronglywith shares opening higher on Thusday and posting modest gains on Friday after GE announced that it was raising its dividend by 20%, helping to alleviate ongoing concerns over the company’s struggling capital division. This news helped to push the S&P 500 up by 30 points from its close on Wednesday to the end of trading on Friday to end another wild week on Wall Street.

This week, earnings season continues with a special focus on energy and defense companies which make up the bulk of the most important reports. Financials and biotechnology firms also look to be in focus with European banking giant Banco Santander reporting later this week and pharma giants TEVA, Merck, and Amgen all reporting as well. While only one major central bank has a decision this week, there is no shortage of financial data which is scheduled to be released. The main focus looks to be a variety of CPI reports in a few key industrialized economies which should help to signal who is winning the inflation/deflation debate; Germany, Australia, and Japan are all slated to report their figures. Below, we profile three ETFs that look to be in focus over the next several days as the summer earnings season continues:

By Jared Cummans

The first week of earnings season brought mixed results from many bellwethers and did not help to give the market any direction heading into the third quarter. The financials sector took a hit with Citigroup and Bank of America both reporting weak revenues numbers while Internet and consumer sectors also slumped on the back of poor outlooks for the rest of 2010. The semiconductor industry was one of the few winners from week one, with Intel announcing strong guidance and posting record quarterly profits. With the mixed results from week one, investors put a variety of big names under the microscope last week in order to give the choppy market some direction going forward. Some of the key companies reporting included Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Apple, and Halliburton which overall produced a slightly more upbeat outlook which helped to send the market higher on the week.