After tonight’s abbreviated session, Wall Street will return to normal on Monday and presumably that will be the point at which we can determine whether the correction has further to run. By then the Black Friday (week) sales tally will be known, with raw Cyber Monday numbers also rolling in.
Strong sales should offer relief and suggest at least a reason, if not a confirmation, of why a bottom could be called. Weak sales will no doubt mean another leg down. But that is to take US retail sales in isolation amidst anything else that might happen in the world.
Sales numbers will begin the week, the G20 will end it. The G20 strictly begins on Thursday night but it will be Friday night before anything actually happens and it is unclear at this stage on which day, given the meeting extends through the weekend, Trump and Xi will sit down on the sidelines to talk trade.
In between, US data releases next week include consumer confidence, house prices, new and pending home sales and the Fed’s preferred PCE inflation measure. The minutes of the November Fed meeting will also be released.
China will release November PMI numbers on Friday.
In Australia we’ll see numbers for September quarter construction work done and private sector capex, in the lead-up to the GDP result the following week. October private sector credit numbers are also due.
Next week wraps up the month of November, and thus the local AGM season. The numbers are now dwindling, but meetings to look forward to next week include those of Harvey Norman ((HVN)), Lynas Corp ((LYC)), Seek ((SEK)) and Afterpay Touch ((APT)). The real fun will be provided by Premier Investments ((PMV)) on the Thursday followed by Myer ((MYR)) on the Friday.
Earnings results will be proved next week by Fisher & Paykal Healthcare ((FPH)), Collins Foods ((CKF)) and Aristocrat Leisure ((ALL)).
Investor updates will be provided by Fortescue Metals ((FMG)), TechnologyOne ((TNE)) and Bellamy’s ((BAL)).
