Next Week At A Glance

This story features METCASH LIMITED. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: MTS

For a more comprehensive preview of next week's events, please refer to "The Monday Report", published each Monday morning. For all economic data release dates, ex-div dates and times and other relevant information, please refer to the FNArena Calendar.

By Greg Peel

It’s quadruple witching on Wall Street tonight, which can lead to a bit of volatility, and then we enter what is effectively the final week of the local financial year, albeit June 30 falls on the following Monday. After Thursday’s rally the ASX 200 is sitting in familiar limbo-land between 5400 and 5500.

A point of focus next week will be whether last night’s sudden gold price rally is a one-off or a break-up to higher levels supported by US inflation concerns and the battle in Iraq. There’s also a solid raft of US data due next week for markets to consider.

New and existing home sales, two house price indices, consumer confidence, durable goods, the Chicago Fed national activity index, Richmond Fed index and personal income and spending are all on the block, with the latter providing an alternative measure of US inflation to the CPI. On Monday a flash estimate of June manufacturing PMI will be released, followed by a service sector equivalent on Wednesday, and on Wednesday the second revision of US March quarter GDP is due.

The UK also sees a GDP revision next week, while China (HSBC) and the eurozone also release flash PMI estimates.

There’s not much in the way of economic data due in Australia next week.

On the local stock front, Metcash ((MTS)) will release its full-year result on Monday and Thursday sees the expiry of June stock options.
 

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