Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other banks that rely on trading and investment-banking may report lower earnings compared with the second quarter because deal volume fell and investors fled riskier assets to protect against Europe's debt crisis and the specter of another U.S. recession. Jefferies Group Inc., which last month said fiscal third-quarter fixed-income trading plunged 85 percent from the second quarter, called August "outright brutal."

"European concerns have extended beyond the periphery," driving down trading profits, Guy Moszkowski, an analyst in New York with Bank of America Corp., said in a Sept. 26 note.

Companies with mortgage-banking units may fair better as efforts by the Federal Reserve to keep borrowing costs low prompt more lending, Richard Ramsden, an analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York, said in a Sept. 28 note. Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest U.S. home lender, may post adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents on Oct. 17, compared with 70 cents in the second quarter, according to the average of estimates.

General Electric Co. should post an earnings rise of 2 cents a share to 31 cents, led by higher profit at the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company's finance unit.

The economy still is expanding and profit margins are still benefiting from cost reductions, said Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist for Citigroup Inc. in New York.

"We're looking at an uneven patch of growth," Levkovich said. "I don't expect to see really bad earnings here."

As the economy slows, investors are seeking companies that sell basic goods and pay high dividends, said McCormick of Bahl & Gaynor. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's Corp. benefits when consumers turn to restaurants that can save them money, he said. The world's largest restaurant chain is forecast to report earnings per share rose to $1.42 in the quarter from $1.29.

Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's largest carmaker, may boost profit as it ramps up production that was disrupted by Japan's March earthquake. The company may report net income of about 103 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 98.7 billion yen a year earlier.

"Toyota has rebounded from the quake, and what will be important for the carmaker now is to keep up with demand," said Issei Takahashi, a Credit Suisse Securities Japan Ltd. analyst.

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second-largest maker of mobile phones, is counting on its Galaxy mobile devices with Google's Android operating system to boost revenue as profit from its chips and flat-screen panels falls. The Suwon, South Korea-based company, Apple's closest competitor in smartphones, gave preliminary results on Oct. 7 that showed operating profit in the three months ended in September fell to 4.2 trillion won ($3.6 billion), down from 4.86 trillion won a year earlier. Full results will be reported later this month.