Japan, the situation in Libya and other states in the Middle East, the NSW election and a moderate flow of economic data here, in the US and Europe will dominate this week.
Hopefully events this week will be better for Japan and global markets.
Friday night’s intervention to boost the value of the yen by the Group of Seven major economies will help settle last week’s volatility.
The situation in the Middle East also remains a concern.
The no fly zone and reports of more fighting around Benghazi will raise fears and oil prices, as will the missile attacks on Gadaffi government installations.
The NSW poll won’t impact markets in Australia, instead there will probably be cheering from many residents of NSW.
The result is a forgone conclusion and in a week’s time I’ll be writing about the task ahead for the new government.
In the US, data for the sale of new and existing home sales for February will be issued.
A fall is forecast for sales of existing homes, but a rise is forecast for new homes after the bad weather in January cut sales.
But the increase will be an illusion, the US housing sector remains depressed, as the Fed said last week.
Durable goods orders for February are expected to be solid, reflecting stronger demand.
Friday sees the third and final reading for 4th quarter economic growth for the US.
The second reading saw growth trimmed to an annual 2.8% from 3.2% in the first estimate, or 0.7% quarter on quarter.
US consumer sentiment figures are also due, along with the Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for March.
Tech giant, Oracle Corp. is expected to post sharp gains in profit and sales when it reports fiscal third-quarter earnings later in the week.
And luxury jewellery group, Tiffany is expected to report higher fourth-quarter earnings when it reports this week,
In Australia, the RBA will release its Financial Stability Review, the first for the year.
RBA assistant governor Malcolm Edey will speak in Sydney later this week, while the Federal Government’s climate change advisor, Ross Garnaut will address a corporate function also in Sydney.
The major corporate report in Australia will be the David Jones interim profit on Wednesday.
The company has already guided the market to expect a profit rise of up to 5%.
Corporate meetings in Australia include: Dynasty Metals Australia, Uran Ltd, Red Sky Energy, Axiom Mining, Orpheum Energy, Target Energy, ARC Exploration, Village Roadshow, Mt Isa Metals, Aspen Group and Minemakers.
The Paydirt Uranium Conference will be held today and tomorrow; it might be a less exuberant affair given the events in Japan of the past 10 days.
In Europe, the focus will be on the European Union leaders summit on March 24-25 for more details on the strengthened measures that have already been announced to help stabilise sovereign debt problems.
The no fly zone and attacks on Libya will add to the importance of this summit.
Tuesday sees the UK consumer price index for February released, along with the retail price index for the month.
European Monetary Union industrial new orders for January are also out mid-week.
British’s new budget, with further details of spending cuts, will be released this week.
