As if the markets did not have enough weighing them down, the dollar notched up a record slide against the Japanese yen last week as markets assessed the unthinkable - that the US could be heading back into recession. Poor forecasts on corporate earnings, troubles at hedge funds and the lack of any quick fix to the crises affecting an increasing number of its trading partners have finally been reflected in the market with technology stocks in particular bearing the brunt.
With Europe, and particularly Dublin, increasingly dependent on signals from the far side of the Atlantic, US woes bode ill for any short-term fix in markets here although it does appear to be having a beneficial influence on the pound, and consequently import prices. Of course, a strong pound, vis-a-vis sterling or the dollar would resurrect problems for exporters. In any case, it is the progress of the dollar during the week that will hold the attention of most analysts.
CBT: Worried investors will finally get a chance to see the figures behind the rumours of problems at CBT when it releases its third-quarter figures today. The company will hope the actual figures will silence the doom merchants but the presence of Bill McCabe back at the helm is likely to exert a greater influence on the markets in the medium term.
Monday
Results: Ardagh, CBT (Q3), Jones.
Meetings: Conference on Environmental Benefits of Cohesion Fund (Hotel Europe, Killarney); EU Special Committee on Agriculture (of national farm officials) meets in Brussels (to October 13th); European Union finance ministers meeting on EMU third phase; IMF mission is expected to return to Russia for talks; European Union and Japan Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo.
Indicators: British producer prices (Sep); Japan Machine Orders (Aug); UK Machine Tools (Jul), UK PPI (Sep), Canadian New House Prices (Y/ YAug).
Tuesday
Meetings: ECB governing council meeting, Frankfurt; National Bank of Poland's Monetary Policy Council (RPP) holds news conference on monetary policy guidelines and medium-term strategy.
Indicators: Wholesales Price Index (Sep); British retail prices (Sep); French consumer prices (Sep); US Chicago Fed Index (Aug).
Others: Revenue Commissioners' chairman, Mr Dermot Quigley, to appear before Dail Committee of Public Accounts regarding annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General; Managing Director of Irish Life, Mr David Went, to appear before Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business.
Wednesday
Results: Iona Technologies (Q3), Smiths Industries.
Meetings: European Venture Capital Association conference on technology investment; UN's trade and development agency UNCTAD issues annual report on world's 48 least-developed countries 2200 GMT.
Indicators: British unemployment (Sep) and wage costs (Q3), average earnings (Jul) and claimant count (Sep); US retail sales (Sep), export/import prices (Sep) and Atlanta Federal Index (Sep); French current account (Jul); Canadian vehicle sales (Aug).
Others: Liffey Valley shopping centre, Quarryvale opens; Dr Michael J Somers is guest speaker at publication of "The Capital Markets: Irish and International Laws and Regulations" by Agnes Foy; announcement of winner of 1998 Nobel Economics Prize, Stockholm.
Thursday
Results: RJB Mining (H1).
Meetings: Irish Strategic Planning Conference (Alexander Hotel, Dublin); Bundesbank council meeting, Frankfurt; US Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Caroline Atkinson in discussions on US/Japan financial services pact.
Indicators: Balance of International Payments (Q2); Employment and Earnings (March); US producer prices (Sep), business inventories (Aug) and Philadelphia Federal Survey (Oct); Japanese industrial production (Aug) and M2 money supply (Sep).
Others: Microsoft channel conference on launch of Windows NT5 and SQL Server 7.0, Slieve Russell Hotel, Co Cavan; Reuters monthly survey on European EMU and poll of forecasts for the European Central Bank repo rate and quarterly poll of Japan's long-term economic forecasts.
Friday
Meetings: EU Commissoner Mr Yves-Thilbault de Silguy keynote speaker at Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers annual conference (O'Reilly Hall, UCD).
Indicators: US consumer prices (Sep), capacity utilisation (Sep), industrial production (Sep) and real earnings (Sep).
Others: Duma lower house of parliament in Moscow hears report from public prosecutor Yuri Skuratov on an investigation into the central bank.
