NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The coming week, while busy, may offer wary investors a few moments to gather their thoughts before plunging back into the market's latest preoccupation: worrying about whether the recent slowdown in the economy is a mountain or a molehill.

"It's mid-2005, and we're having a mid-cycle slowdown, not a recession," said Linda Duessel, market strategist at Federated Investors. "The problem is this bull market is old, the Fed is tightening and inflation, though benign, is going in the wrong direction."

All of this has caused the market to lose some momentum lately, she added.

Yet, at the same time, earnings have continued to surpass estimates and oil prices seem to have, at least temporarily, peaked. And as Friday's strong April jobs report implied, the recent softness in the economy is not necessarily indicative of something broader.

These positives may help stocks move higher in the short term, she said, before the traditionally tough summer months take hold.

Next week's slower pace may offer investors the opportunity to better assess the risks going forward.

Approximately 88 percent of the S&P 500 have already reported first-quarter earnings and the results have largely been above estimates.

Earnings are currently on track to rise nearly 14 percent from the same period a year ago, versus expectations for gains of just 7 to 8 percent at the start of the first quarter.

While earnings are still set to trickle in throughout the month, next week brings the last batch of potential market movers, highlighted by Cisco Systems after the bell Tuesday, and Dell after the bell Thursday. (La Monica: Can Cisco and Dell save Tech?)

(For a look at all of next week's big earnings, click here.)

Next week will also likely be influenced by the heavy number of corporations holding conferences, said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management, including a number of banks and pharmaceuticals. These conferences can have an added impact, particularly as Wall Street is nearly done with earnings.

But as the turmoil of the last few weeks has made clear, the focus is likely to remain on the economy.

"The waters remain very muddy in terms of the economy," Ghriskey said. "Friday's payrolls report made the case that the economy still has some life to it, but it's not clear yet whether the slowdown in March was temporary."

Because of the continued focus on both consumer spending and inflation, next week's key economic reads will likely be retail sales and Friday's consumer sentiment report, he added.

Here's a look at the key reports due in the week ahead:

• Wednesday's trade balance is expected to show a widening to $61.5 billion in March from $61.0 billion in February, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
• Retail sales, due Thursday from the Commerce Department, are expected to have risen 0.5 percent in April after rising 0.3 percent in March. Excluding the volatile autos component, sales are also expected to have risen 0.5 percent, after rising 0.1 percent in March.
• The March read on business inventories, due Friday, is expected to show a rise of 0.6 percent in the month, according to forecasts. Inventories rose 0.5 percent in February.
• The first read on May consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan is due Friday. The index is expected to have risen to 88.0 from 87.7 in April.

• Monday: Priceline.com (Research) is expected to report earnings of 20 cents per share, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. That's up from the 11 cents the company earned a year ago. (Is it a buy, sell or hold?)
• Tuesday: Cisco Systems (Research) is expected to have earned 22 cents per share, up from 19 cents a year ago.
• Wednesday: Walt Disney (Research) likely earned 31 cents per share, according to forecasts, versus 26 cents per share a year ago.
• Thursday: Target (Research) is expected to have earned 53 cents per share, up from 48 cents a year ago; Wal-Mart Stores (Research) is expected to have earned 56 cents per share, six cents more than a year ago; Dell (Research) is expected to report earnings of 37 cents per share, versus 28 cents a year ago.