Weekly Reports | Aug 13 2010
By Greg Peel
Strap yourselves in. All hell is about to break loose as the next two weeks brings us the bulk of Australian corporate earnings reports. One can only suggest the result so far has been net disappointment, but despite some big names having reported it's still only been a curtain raiser so far.
It is at this point I stop listing the individual stocks reporting on each day of the week because there are simply too many of them. Readers can refer to the FNArena calendar for guidance.
The offset to the busy local results season is that economic data are kept to a minimum over that time to avoid sheer information overload. So next week in Australia will only see vehicle sales on Monday and Westpac's leading economic index on Wednesday.
It is not the case elsewhere, however.
I noted in this morning's Overnight Report that the US S&P 500 seems range-bound between the 100-day moving average on the topside and the 50-day on the bottom. The index nevertheless closed right on the 50-day last night after recovering from earlier weakness, so from this point it will still depend on the data and the last trickle of US earnings reports. And tonight brings quite a few important data points.
We have the CPI, retail sales, business inventories and the first Michigan consumer confidence measure for August, all of which can be market movers. Deflation and disappearing consumers are Wall Street's greatest fear.
Tonight also brings the first estimate of the eurozone's June quarter GDP.
Next week is a busy one for US data. We'll see industrial production, housing starts, housing sentiment, the New York and Philadelphia activity indices, Treasury capital flows, the PPI, and leading economic indicators.
At a time when the Bank of Japan is now seriously considering intervention to curb a runaway yen, Japan will release its June quarter GDP on Monday.
Bring on the madness.
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.
