Next Week At A Glance

This story features WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION, and other companies. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: WBC

By Greg Peel

Tonight in the US sees a profit result from Chevron along with Chicago PMI and the last Michigan Uni consumer confidence survey for April. But most importantly tonight features the first stab at US first quarter GDP.

Consensus has the number at 3.4%, down from 5.6% in the December quarter, but there is a wide spread of forecasts and this first estimate is often substantially revised anyway.

While Greek bail-out fears now appear to have eased, confirmation is required next week from the successful passage of a rescue contribution bill through the German parliament. The German Opposition has provided conditional support and the bill will possibly be presented on Monday night. If passed swiftly, the euro should see a bounce. If not, look out.

Monday is also manufacturing index day across the globe, although it seems the UK will be a day late this month. Australia, China, the EU and US will nevertheless chime in. A good result for the US should add to bullish momentum.

The US will also see personal spending data, pending home sales, factory orders, the services index, first quarter productivity, same-store sales and consumer credit next week. It is also unemployment week, with the private sector number out on Wednesday and no-farm payrolls on Friday.

Australia kicks off on Monday with manufacturing and the TD Securities inflation gauge. Tuesday is RBA decision day and that has become a bit of a toss of the coin, interim events notwithstanding.

Next week also sees the services and construction indices, building approvals, retail sales, the trade balance and the RBA's quarterly monetary policy statement on Friday.

Hanging over Australia next week will be the release of the Henry Tax Review on Sunday. Unpopular changes such as an additional mining tax could cause concern but one must remember (a) the government is not bound by the review, (b) whatever comes out in the Budget still has to get through the Senate and (c), don't believe the states are likely to lie back and take a beating, particularly the mining states.

The European Central Bank and Bank of England both make rate decisions on Thursday, with no changes expected, and Thursday is also the day of the UK general election. A hung parliament is a distinct possibility and should cause further concern, but an outright Tory victory would no doubt give the pound a boost.

On the local stock front there is a handful of interim results including those of Westpac ((WBC)) and National Bank ((NAB)).

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.

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