Next Week At A Glance

This story features FORTESCUE LIMITED, and other companies. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: FMG

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

The US earnings season begins in earnest next week as the big banks and a raft of Dow stocks line up to provide what Wall Street is expecting will be bad news. Given such low expectations, any good news will no doubt be well received but despite the dooming and glooming, US stock indices have not corrected in response.

Amidst the earnings numbers will be the now ever present spectre of a data-dependent first Fed rate rise which will definitely come in June or definitely in 2016 depending on who you ask.

Next week the Fed will be dependent on inflation numbers, retail sales, industrial production, housing sentiment and starts, consumer sentiment, and the Empire State and Philly Fed activity indices. The Fed will also release its anecdotal Beige Book economic assessment.

Europe will be keeping an eye on trade, industrial production and inflation numbers with the ECB holding a policy meeting midweek, although one assumes there’s little more Mario can throw at it.

The PBoC is reparing to throw more at its economy and next week sees trade, industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment numbers.

In Australia, the Easter-delayed jobs numbers are out on Thursday and before that we’ll see the monthly NAB business and Westpac consumer confidence surveys.

On the local stock front, there’ll no doubt be much wailing and gnashing of teeth as resource sector quarterly production and sales reports roll in, including those from Woodside Petroleum ((WPL)), Fortescue Metals ((FMG)), Iluka Resources ((ILU)) and Santos ((STO)).
 

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