What’s Happening Next Week?

This story features BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED, and other companies. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: BSL

By Chris Shaw

As well as a heavy dose of earnings results from Australian companies there is a raft of economic data releases next week both in Australia and across the rest of the world.

In Australia the major releases will be skilled vacancies, the wage cost index and construction work done data on Wednesday, private capital expenditure and average weekly earnings on Thursay and private sector credit numbers on Friday.

Across the ditch in New Zealand there will also be a number of releases, the most significant being credit card spending numbers on Monday, inflation expectations on Wednesday, trade and business confidence numbers on Thursday and building permit numbers on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia there will be a large amount of data coming out next week giving further insight on the health or otherwise of the Japanese economy, with Tuesday seeing the Bank of Japan release its monetary policy meeting minutes for January, while on Wednesday there will be merchandise trade balance numbers.

Friday is the big day for Japanese data however with the CPI number for February along with household spending, employment, industrial production, retail trade, housing starts and construction orders for January all being released on the final day of the week.

Tuesday in the US will see Fed chairman Ben Bernanke report on the economy and Fed policy, while there will also be the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for February and updates on house prices via the CaseShiller Home Price Index for December and the OFHEO Index for the December quarter.

Thusday sees the release of durable goods orders for January, while Friday is a busy data for US economic statistics with the release of annualised GDP numbers for the December quarter along with the University of Michigan Confidence Index and the Chicago Purchasing Manufacturers Index, both for February.

Data from the UK include total business investment in the UK on Monday, December quarter GDP numbers on Wednesday and a consumer confidence survey for February on Friday. European Union data include December’s current account and business climate expectations for February released on Tuesday and industrial new order numbers for December released on Wednesday.

Later in the week the European data include consumer confidence and business climate indicator numbers for February, both released on Thursday, and CPI and unemployment numbers for January due out on Friday.

In terms of corporate results, next week is the heaviest of the February reporting period and includes BlueScope ((BSL)) and Crane Group ((CRG)) on Monday, Oil Search ((OSH)) and Suncorp-Metway ((SUN)) on Tuesday, AGL Energy ((AGK)), Asciano ((AIO)), Macquarie Airports ((MAP)) and WorleyParsons ((WOR)) on Wednesday, Arrow Energy ((AOE)), Lend Lease (LLC)), Telstra ((TLS)), Tattersall’s ((TTS)) and Westfield ((WDC)) on Thursday and Fortescue ((FMG)), Harvey Norman ((HVN)), QBE Insurance ((QBE)) and Woolworths ((WOW)) due on Friday.

For more information: see the FNArena calendar on the website (updated regularly) and Monday’s The Week Ahead.

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