Next Week At A Glance

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

 By Greg Peel

There's not really much more to say than hasn't already been said about next week. The US Congressional mid-terms are on Tuesday and the Fed will finally end speculation on QE2 on Wednesday. Little else matters.

The US third quarter GDP estimate tonight might spark some interest if it is wildly different to 2.0%. Monday is manufacturing PMI day across the globe so the US number would otherwise have been important, as would the equivalent service sector PMIs and US unemployment figures also being released next week. There are also private consumption, productivity, factory orders and chain store sales numbers to consider.

The Chinese PMI will be closely watched on Monday, and the Banks of Japan and England and the ECB are all set to make post-QE2 rate decisions next week. The RBA will make its rate decision on Tuesday ahead of the Fed.

The weak CPI has bought the RBA some breathing space and there's little chance of an RBA hike, particularly ahead of QE2.

Tuesday also ushers in the Silly Season for the Australian financial market. From that point through to Christmas many market professionals will be either sloshed or hungover as they deal with the usual round of Christmas-related lunches, parties and client love-ins. Mind you, gone are the days of the $250k party spectaculars with all friends and foe invited. These days department heads just take their charges down to the local and whack a card behind the bar for a couple of hours.

Tuesday is a holiday in Victoria but nowhere else, so the ASX is open but the tumbleweeds will roll through after lunch. Money market and forex traders will be grumbling they have to hang around for the RBA just in case ,but the stock market will give it away for the afternoon.

Highlights in Australia next week will be the PMIs, building approvals and retail sales.

Thankfully it's a quieter week for AGMs next week albeit the following two weeks will be sheer AGM hell. Next week sees a full-year earnings report from Westpac ((WBC)), a half-year from CSR ((CSR)) and quarterlies from News Corp ((NWS)) and Telstra ((TLS)). Myer ((MYR)) will also hold an investor day.

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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