A less frenetic week would normally be expected this week after the volatile trading conditions and poor data flow last week, but with the unofficial deadline of Friday night, our time, for the US debt ceiling/spending cuts talks to reach some sort of agreement, tension will remain high until a deal emerges.
That’s hopefully: an agreement is no certainty.
Talks continued over the weekend.
The issue will dominate sentiment here and offshore.
Greece and Europe will also continue to add to the unease with a meeting of European finance ministers on Thursday night, our time, which will try and work out an agreement for a second rescue package for Greece.
In Australia the carbon tax debate and interest rate speculation will dominate with the minutes of the July RBA board meeting to be released tomorrow.
Friday’s forecast by Westpac that the RBA will be cutting rates by the end of the year, was a big surprise.
There will be no sign of that thinking in tomorrow’s minutes.
Data for car sales and export and import prices are also due for release this week.
The import price index is out on Friday and will be a precursor for the release of producer price and consumer price inflation data next week.
BHP Billiton’s 4th quarter and full year production report will be one of the major corporate releases this week on Wednesday.
The company is well on the way to earning upwards of $US23 billion or more, according to some analysts.
We will get a better idea of the company’s 2011 earnings potential after the release of the report.
Woolworth’s 4th quarter and 2011 financial year sales figures are also out on Wednesday.
The retailer downgraded its guidance at the release of the 6 month and second quarter figures in February, and the market will be looking for an update on earnings in this week’s report.
Woodside Petroleum also releases its second quarter and ha;lf year production report tomorrow.
Investor Djerriwarrah Investments reports 2011 earnings later today.
Annual and extraordinary general meetings will include: Ausgold and Cockatoo Ridge, Metal Storm, Terramin Australia, Healthlinx, Global Nickel Investments, Hastie Group, Island Group, Investorfirst, Medivac and Roco Resources.
The Hastie Group meeting on Friday will be to approve a series of moves that will save the company from collapse and give it a second chance.
In the US, the debt talks and fears will overshadow the release of other data.
The depressed housing sector will be a focus this week, with the release of the monthly home builders survey due tonight, housing starts due tomorrow night, existing home sales due Wednesday night and house price data the next night.
The monthly survey of manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region for July is expected to show a modest improvement after a sharp fall in June.
The US June quarter earnings reporting season will start in earnest with investors expecting profit growth of around 13-15% on a year ago.
Among the companies due to release are tech giants Apple, Amazon, eBay Inc, Intel Corp, IBM, Microsoft and Yahoo Inc.
Google set the tone for this sector late last week with a stronger than forecast result.
Big financial names including Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and investors will be looking for better than forecast results after both JPMorgan and Citicorp surprised on the upside last week.
And industrial giants including AT&T Inc., Caterpillar and General Electric are also scheduled to report this week. Johnson and Johnson, Peabody Energy, Pepsi Co, Delta Air Lines, and Halliburton and Hasbro are also down to report earnings results.
In Europe the focus will likely be on business conditions readings due Friday after falls in recent months, along with ongoing debt problems.
Nokia also reports earnings and the minutes from the last Bank of England monetary policy meeting are due.
In Asia, June Japanese trade data is due as is the flash manufacturing survey data from HSBC Market for China
The trade data is out Thursday and should show a narrowing of the deficit reported for May.
Also on Thursday HSBC’s preliminary China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers index is expected to show no real change in the final weak reading for June.
The so-called “flash” index is based on 85% to 90% of total responses to its monthly PMI survey. The final report is due at the end of next week.
HSBC’s June PMI came in at 50.1, easing from 51.6 in May. That was the weakest reading since the April-June period of 2009.
