Investors keep close eye on US indicators

This week: Fresh data on the US housing market is due out in the early part of the week and once again this will be closely watched by markets. Observers expect the reports to show that the sector remained depressed.

Later in the week the latest US GDP data will be released. This is expected to confirm that the economy operated below trend during the first quarter.

A number of interesting indicators are also due out here, with the Central Statistics Office's crime statistics expected in midweek and figures on financial sector earnings in the last quarter of 2006 also due for release.

Monday

RESULTS: Amgen; Boston Scientific; Chubb; Delta Airlines; Edwards Lifesciences; Fiat; Novartis; Rohm & Haas; Hitachi Capital; PolyFuel; Faces Cosmetics; Lok'nStore.

INDICATORS: UK M4 & Lending (Mar), CML, BBA mortgage lending (Mar); Japanese housing starts (Mar) and construction orders (Mar).

OTHERS: Publication of OECD economic survey of New Zealand; Irish Bankers' Federation publishes wealth survey (Westin Hotel); Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin (right) will be officiating at the opening of Amazon's new building (Cork Airport Business Park).

Tuesday

RESULTS: Akzo Nobel; Amazon.com; AT&T; Canon; Elan (Q1); Iona (Q1); Michelin; Sanmina SCI; Sun Microsystems; Susquehanna Bancshares; Western Union; Formjet; Ukrproduct; Whitbread; Associated British Foods; Character; York Pharma.

INDICATORS: EU-13 current account (Feb) and industrial orders (Feb); US weekly retail sales (Apr 21st); Conference Board consumer confidence index (Apr); existing home sales (Mar); UK PSNCR (Mar); CBI quarterly industrial trends survey (Apr); Nationwide house prices (Apr) and Bank of England speakers at treasury select committee; Italian retail sales (Feb), consumer confidence (Apr); Belgian BNB business confidence; Hungarian NBH rate announcement; Canadian BoC rate announcement; Japanese corporate services price index (Mar).

OTHERS: Trading updates from Aviva, Carpetright, Carphone Warehouse.

Wednesday

RESULTS: Coillte; Anheuser-Busch; Apple; Avaya; Becton Dickinson; Celestica; Colgate-Palmolive; ConocoPhillips; Moody's; PepsiCo; Xilinx; Game; Autonomy (Q1); GlaxoSmithKline (Q1), Wolfson Microelectronics (Q1).

AGM: Intrum Justitua (New York), HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland.

INDICATORS: US durable goods (Mar); new home sales (Mar) and Fed Beige Book release; Irish crops and livestock survey (June); headline crime statistics (Q1); Quarterly National Household Survey; UK GDP (Q1) and index of services (Feb); German Ifo survey (Apr); Spanish producer prices (Mar); Polish rate announcement; Norwegian Norges Bank rate announcement; Belgian GDP (Q1); Japanese trade balance (Mar), New Zealand RBNZ rate announcement.

OTHERS:Trading update from Legal & General; Bill Coleman of BEA Systems and Jerry Kennelly of Stockbyte will speak at InvestNet's Create and Innovate conference at DCU; Invest NI annual report to be published; The Energy Show 2007 will be opened by Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey at the RDS Industries Hall (to Thursday); The Technology 4 Business exhibition and conference programme at the RDS Main Hall; Prestige & HSBC launch Harmonising your Insurance Needs with Ryan Tubridy (right) at the Shelbourne Hotel

Thursday

RESULTS: ABN Amro; AstraZeneca; Bristol Meyers Squibb; Cardinal Health; Coca-Cola Enterprises; DaimlerChrysler; ExxonMobil, Ford Motor; Getmobile; Hugo Boss, Nissan; Sodexho Alliance; Trinity Biotech (Q1); ClinPhone; Corsie; John David Group, Smiths News.

AGM: ICS Building Society at the Conrad Hotel, Dublin; An Post at the GPO, Dublin; AstraZeneca; Aviva; Barclays; Drax; Scottish & Newcastle.

MEETINGS: Certified Public Accountants in Ireland will hold their annual business lecture at the Royal College of Physicians, Dublin, ECB governing council meeting (non-policy).

INDICATORS: US jobless claims (week ending Apr 21st); US help wanted index (Mar); US money supply (week ending Apr 16th); Irish wholesale prices (Mar); external trade (Feb) and financial sector employment and earnings (Q4); UK nationwide house prices (Apr); French industrial trends (Apr) and INSEE business confidence (Apr); German consumer confidence, Czech rate announcement.

OTHERS: Trading update from Reckitt Benckiser; Cork Chamber Breakfast Briefing with Joe Gavin, city manager (right), at the Clarion Hotel, Cork. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to attend IMI national management conference on challenges and opportunities beyond the economic boom at Druid's Glen (to Friday).

Friday

RESULTS: Chevron, Euro Disney, Mitsubishi.

AGM: ISME agm lunch and biennial lecture - guest speaker Denis O'Brien.

INDICATORS: US GDP (Q1); US employment cost index (Q1) and University of Michigan consumer confidence index (Apr); Irish institutional sector accounts - financial and non-financial; vehicles licensed for the first time (Mar); livestock survey (Dec); German cost of living (Mar); French consumer confidence (Apr), unemployment (Mar) and producer prices (Mar); Spanish HICP (Apr); Italian ISAE business confidence (Apr); Japanese household spending (Mar), industrial output (Mar), unemployment (Mar), CPI (Apr) and monetary policy meeting.

OTHERS: Trading update from Friends Provident; ECB governing council members Christian Noyer and Axel Weber address the spring conference of the Bundesbank and Bank of France.