Irish retail sales figures out this week

This week will be relatively quiet on the economic front, although Irish retail sales figures out on Wednesday should be of interest. Meanwhile, US housing starts and jobless claims data due out over the next two days will be the economic highlights of the week.

Monday 19th

RESULTS: Campbell Soup, Care UK, Cranswick, Detica, First Artist Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Lowe's, Medtronic, Nordstrom, Perry Ellis, RM, Valspar, Workspace.

MEETINGS: Abbey EGM (Conrad Hotel)

INDICATORS: US NAHB housing survey (Nov); UK Rightmove house price index; Canadian wholesale sales.

OTHERS: The Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen will launch a major paper on future Irish economic policy at the 2007 Indecon Public Policy Lecture (Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street); a study on industry-university collaboration by Enterprise Ireland policy analyst Nicki O'Connor entitled Industry-Academia Collaboration: A Competence Centre Approach for Ireland will be launched by ESRI director Frances Ruane (5pm, Trinity College Dublin); Minister Micheál Martin will be launching the 2007 Pinnacle BES Fund, aiming to raise €10 million (Clarion Hotel, Lapps Quay, Cork City); The UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School will host a property seminar entitled Property: The shape of things to come, with keynote speaker Prof Robert Van Order, Professor of Economics, University of Michigan (8.00am - 11.30am, O'Reilly Hall in UCD); lunchtime seminar The European Commission's Third Energy Package - Implications for Gas and Electricity markets in Ireland (12.45 Institute of European Affairs; High level conference entitled Beyond GDP - Measuring progress, true wealth and the well-being of nations to be held at the European Parliament with participation of the OECD (to 20th); International Renewable Energy Storage Conference organised by the European Association for Renewable Energy and the World Council for Renewable Energy (Bonn); ECB Governing Council member Klaus Liebscher speaks at Austrian central bank's annual conference on European Economic Integration (Vienna).

Tuesday 20th

RESULTS: Air Berlin, Amarin, Barnes and Noble, Benihana, Borders, Chrysalis, easyJet, Enodis, Enterprise Inns, Foot Locker, Forrester Research, Hogg Robinson, Gamestop, Gymboree, Jamba Juice, James Cropper, Limited Brands, Paragon, Protherics, SSL International, Target, United Natural Foods, Whole Foods Market

AGM: Clinton Cards, Smiths

INDICATORS: US housing starts (Oct), building permits and weekly retail sales (Nov 17th); UK M4 & lending (Oct), PSNCR (Oct) and CBI monthly industrial trends survey (Nov); German producer prices (Oct); Swiss trade balance; Canadian consumer price index; Japanese all-industry activity index and merchandise trade balance

OTHERS: Spread betting company Worldspreads seminar - The Insiders Guide to Spread Betting (Burlington); Trading updates from Scottish & Newcastle; Sixth Annual World Food Technology and Innovation Forum, sponsored by Enterprise Ireland (to 21st, Burlington Hotel); Association for Higher Education Access and Disability AHEAD conference - to identify major barriers, real or perceived to the inclusion of graduates with disabilities in the mainstream work force (9.00am, Dublin Castle); Cities of Knowledge Conference - An International eGovernment/Public Sector Knowledge Management event, co-organised by Dublin City Council and DIT (Clontarf Castle).

Wednesday 21st

RESULTS: Abercrombie & Fitch, Daily Mail and General Trust, Gap, Office Depot, Paypoint, Trifast, Trintech, United Drug

INDICATORS: Irish retail sales (Sept); US jobless claims (Nov 17th); University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Index (Nov); leading indicators (Oct) and crude inventories; Bank of England minutes; Italian retail sales (Sept) and consumer confidence (Nov); Spanish GDP (Q3); Canadian retail sales; Australian labour market and related payments (Oct)

OTHERS: OECD to release Financial Market Trends No 93; LSCA annual lunch with financial services ombudsman Joe Meade (Four Seasons); ECB executive board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell speaks on competition in Europe's finance market at a reception hosted by the Frankfurt business journalists' club, also attended by Bundesbank board member Hans Reckers; The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) will host a presentation on Digital Terestrial Television (DTT) (10.30am, 2-5 Warrington Place, Dublin 2).

Thursday 22nd

US public holiday

RESULTS: Air France-KLM, Halfords, Mothercare, Nationwide.

INDICATORS: EU current account (Sept) and industrial orders (Sept); Irish wholesale prices (Oct) and external trade balance (Sept); German GDP; Belgian business confidence (Nov).

OTHERS: Launch of Omniscout Ireland, part of the Worldscout Corporation which produces GPS/GSM tracking devices (5.30pm, Round Room, Mansion House); Ecodriving, workshop organised by the International Transport Forum and the International Energy Agency (to 23rd); UCD Quinn School of Business to host The Business of Magazines evening talk; Meteor Business Awards Ceremony (Maryborough Hotel and Spa, Cork); Data Edge, the IT and network performance management company, together with its partner CA, are hosting a free seminar on managing critical web-applications and infrastructure (Shelbourne Hotel);

ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet to give evidence before French economic commission on how to improve growth (Paris); ECB governing council meeting - no interest rate announcements scheduled (Frankfurt).

Friday 23rd

RESULTS: Fuller Smith Turner, GCap Media

MEETINGS: Kenmare Resources egm (11.00am, Westbury Hotel, Grafton Street.

INDICATORS: Eurozone PMIs (Nov);

US money supply (Nov 12th); UK GDP (Q2) and index of services (Sept); German import prices (Oct); French household consumption of manufactured goods (Oct); Australian balance of payments and international investment position.

OTHERS: The Irish Franchise Exhibition - entrepreneurial opportunity to explore franchising opportunities available across Ireland (to 24th, Main Hall, RDS); ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet takes part in a panel on global capital and national sovereignty and ECB governing council member Axel Weber takes part in a panel on global capital and central banks at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress.