The coming week will be dominated here by the peak of the earnings season with the likes of BHP Billiton, Wesfarmers and major banks such as Westpac and the NAB due to reveal earnings or profit updates.
Offshore the US Federal Reserve moves to centre stage as the June quarter reporting season fades.
And the mid-month updates of manufacturing activity around the globe will also be issued, with attention as usual on the ‘flash’ report on the Chinese economy.
In Australia, in addition to the reporting season, the minutes from the RBA’s last board meeting are out tomorrow, while Governor Steven’s Semi-Annual Federal Parliamentary testimony happens on Thursday in Brisbane.
Both the minutes and Mr Stevens’ opening statement will confirm that rates will remain on hold for some time to come.
Once again, watch for any comments from the Governor on the value of the Aussie dollar which may see the currency retrace gains late last week to fall below 93 USc.
The economic figures to be released this week are minor – car sales for July are out later today.
In the US, it’s a busy week for data and updates on the economy.
July Consumer Price Inflation data tomorrow night, our time, should confirm that inflation remains benign with headline inflation of 2% year on year and core inflation of 1.9% year on year. The Producer Price Index on Friday showed inflation fell to 0.1% in July.
The minutes of the Fed’s last meeting are out mid week, then the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium from Thursday to Saturday will see no change of stance from the central bank’s leaders on the strength of the US economic rebound and employment.
Fed chair Janet Yellen is due to speak Saturday night, our time, and is not expected to reveal any change in approach, meaning the timing of the long forecast rate rise from the Fed remains well into 2015.
And, Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank, whose speech will be examined for any signs of a policy change for the eurozone which saw growth slow sharply in the June quarter and inflation again fall closer to outright deflation.
Housing dominates the data front in the US this week, starting with the latest home builder’s conditions index, due out tonight; housing starts and permits (tomorrow night, our time) and existing home sales on Thursday night.
As well, the early report from the Markit manufacturing conditions PMI is due out on Thursday.
Offshore, the flow of earnings reports is slowing in the US, Asia and Europe.
The US will see a much smaller group of S&P 500 stocks reporting – the majors include hardware giants Home Depot and Lowes Cos.
Hewlett Packard, the computer and hardware giant, also reports as does Elizabeth Arden and clothing chain American Eagle, Petsmart, Staples (the office products group), Hormel Foods (the Spam company) and tech services giant, Salesforce.com is also down to report midweek.
Retail giant Target leads a second week of retailer reports. It will report losses after write-downs on its Canadian expansion and the impact of the credit card data theft.
Other retailers include Gap (which should do well), Dollar Tree (the cheap products group which is buying rival Family Dollar) and struggling Sears Holdings is also due to report and the news won’t be nice. Sports footwear chain Foot Locker’s quarterly results are out on Thursday.
In the eurozone, the focus will be on July manufacturing and services conditions PMIs (Thursday), especially after the weak growth data last week for the June quarter which was a big surprise.
Last week’s releases on growth and inflation were bad enough for market confidence, so a something of a breather will be handy this week.
In Asia, the Markit ‘flash’ manufacturing PMI for July is out Thursday will be watched for further signs of improvement following the weak level of industrial production and fall in growth in the June quarter after the April 1 tax rise.
And the ‘flash’ report for China’s manufacturing PMI for July is also out on Thursday and will be watched closely for signs of a slowing in growth after the slight weakening in industrial production and investment and the big drop in bank lending.
