After a week of mixed performance and light trading volumes on the market, Wall Street  is poised for more action this week.

A report on Friday that Dow Jones had clinched an agreement with Rupert Murdoch proved premature at best. But given the expected timeline outlined earlier by Murdoch, a deal, after two and half months of negotiation, is thought to be imminent.

Today may be another merger Monday, but one deal already appears to be a sure thing: shareholders of the Chicago Board of Trade are expected to approve a merger with rival Chicago Mercantile Exchange after the Chicago Merc sweetened its offer for a third time on Friday.

Under the revised terms, the Merc will give C.B.O.T. shareholders 36.2 percent of a combined company, up from 34.6 percent before. The Justice Department already gave its go-ahead to the deal on June 11, after the rival InterContinental Exchange raised antitrust concerns.

Can consumer spending keep driving growth in the economy?

Investors will be closely watching for signs when the biggest retailer,  Wal-Mart,  discloses monthly sales data on Thursday and when the Commerce Department reports on June retail sales on Friday. Economists are forecasting only 0.3 percent growth in June, or 0.2 percent excluding autos. Retail sales rebounded 1.4 percent in May (1.3 percent excluding autos), after an abysmal performance in April.

Second-quarter earnings season gets under way this week.

On Monday, aluminum giant Alcoa is expected to report second-quarter earnings of 83 cents a share.  The rest of the week brings earnings reports from Colgate-Palmolive on Tuesday, followed by Yum Brands and Marriott on Thursday.