BUSINESS THIS WEEK

IRISH ECONOMIC data will be fairly thin on the ground this week, although employment figures due out on Thursday should throw some light on the extent of job losses in the construction sector.

Tomorrow, some of the country's best business brains will convene in the Marriott Druids Glen for the Chambers Ireland Summit for Growth event, to examine how renewed business success and expansion can be achieved.

Internationally, one of the main spotlight events of the week will be the release of retail sales figures from the US tomorrow, which are a key barometer of consumer spending.

Monday

Results: Robert Wiseman Dairies; Stobart; Tiscali, Valspar.

Meetings: Centrica agm.

Indicators: US federal budget (Apr); UK producer price index (Apr) and external trade (Mar); Italian industrial production (Mar); Japanese money supply (Apr)

Others: Vintners' Federation of Ireland 35th annual conference (to Wednesday, Mount Wolseley Hotel, Co Carlow); Lucozade Sport Head2Head launch (St Mary's College RFC, Dublin); trading update from HSBC; UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School MBA roadshow begins (Citywest Hotel, Dublin); Invest Northern Ireland to make an investment announcement (Derry), German public holiday.

Tuesday

Results: Applied Materials; Babcock International; Carluccio's; Enodis; Enterprise Inns; Fortis; Hitachi; Juventus Football Club; Nissan; TJX; TUI Travel; Whole Foods Market.

Meetings: Kerry Group agm (The Brandon Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry).

Indicators: US retail sales (Apr) and business inventories (Mar); UK retail consortium (Apr); CPI (Apr) and DCLG house prices (Mar); French current account (Mar), Spanish CPI (Apr).

Others: BizSales Business Brokers free seminar, Grooming your business for sale, selling it and enjoying the hard earned proceeds, (Alexander Hotel, Dublin); Bombay Saphire designer glass competition final, in association with Waterford Crystal (Morgan Hotel, Dublin); Chambers Ireland National Business Forum 2008 Summit for Growth 2008, speakers include FAI chief executive John Delaney, Postbank chief executive Margaret Sweeney and Vivas Health chief executive Oliver Tattan (Marriott Hotel, Druids Glen); trading update G4S and Premier Foods, Business Speed Networking Event (Conrad Hotel, Dublin).

Wednesday

Results: Benetton; Datatec; FirstGroup; Sainsbury's, Parmalat.

Meetings: Glanbia agm (Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny); Tullow Oil agm, Unilever agm.

Indicators: Irish tourism and travel figures (2007); EU industrial production (Mar); US CPI (Apr); UK average earnings (Mar); unit wage costs (Mar); unemployment (Apr) and Bank of England inflation report; French CPI (Apr); Italian CPI (Apr); Spanish GDP (Q1), Japanese corporate goods price index (Apr) and current account (Mar).

Others: Health Insurance Authority to present findings from 2008 market review of the private health insurance market in Ireland (Davenport Hotel, Dublin), trading update from Barratt Developments.

Thursday

Results: 3i; BT; Bulgari; Hewlett-Packard; JCPenney; Urban Outfitters.

Meetings: Paddy Power agm (Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin); Kingspan Group agm (The Herbert Park Hotel, Dublin), McInerney Holdings agm.

Indicators: Irish index of employment in construction (March); EU HICP (Apr) and GDP (Q1); US Philadelphia Fed Survey (May), Empire State (May); industrial production and capacity utilisation (Apr); NAHB (May); money supply (w/e May 5th) and jobless claims (w/e May 10th); German CPI (Apr) and GDP (Q1); French GDP (Q1), Japanese machinery orders (Mar).

Friday

Results: Abercrombie Fitch, British Airways.

Meetings: UTV Media agm.

Indicators: Irish retail sales index (Mar); EU external trade (Mar); Irish retail sales (Mar); US housing starts (Apr) and University of Michigan (May); Japanese consumer confidence (May), industrial output (Mar) and GDP (Q1)

Others: Trading update from Avis Europe; Business IT Summit (Royal College of Physicians, Dublin).