This Week

TODAY’S RETAIL sales figures for November will be analysed closely for signs that personal spending may have picked up in advance of Christmas. The latest external trade data is also due this week.

Tomorrow the National Treasury Management Agency will hold the first of 11 bond auctions scheduled for 2010.

MONDAY

Meeting: Dublin City Enterprise Network for Women meeting (Clarion Hotel, IFSC); annual retail conference organised by Checkout and PwC (Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin 4); Commission on Employment workshop, Promoting Dublin as an International Student City (Dublin Civic Offices); Eurogroup meeting (Frankfurt).

Indicators: Irish retail sales index (Nov); UK Rightmove house price index (Jan); Japanese capacity utilisation (Nov); Canadian investment in foreign securities (Nov).

TUESDAY

Results: Citigroup; Forest Laboratories; IG.

Meeting: Commission on Employment workshop, Promoting Cultural and Creative Industries and Innovation in Dublin (Dublin Civic Offices); EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Brussels).

Indicators: UK consumer price index (Dec); Japanese Tokyo department store sales (Dec) and consumer confidence (Dec).

Other: NTMA bond auction.

WEDNESDAY

Results: Bank of America; Bank of New York Mellon; eBay; Logitech; MT Bank; Morgan Stanley; Northern Trust; Starbucks; Wells Fargo; Xilinx.

Indicators: Irish overseas travel (Nov); US API crude oil inventories (Jan 15th), producer price index (Dec), manufacturing shipments (Nov), housing starts (Dec) and MBA mortgage applications (Jan 15th); UK average earnings excluding bonus payments (Nov), Bank of England minutes, claimant count rate (Dec), ILO unemployment rate (Nov) and jobless claims change (Dec); German producer price index (Dec); New Zealand retail sales (Nov); Japanese machine tool orders (Dec).

Other: Tullow Oil pre-close trading statement.

THURSDAY

Results: American Express; Continental Airlines; CPL; Goldman Sachs; Google; Xerox.

Meeting: "Executive Insights" with Isme's Mark Fielding (UCD Smurfit school, Blackrock); Growing Brands Through a Recession one-day branding masterclass for business leaders (NUI G); launch of pensions book Personal Provision of Retirement Income: Meeting the Needs of Older People? (Tasc offices, Dawson Street, Dublin 2).

Indicators: ECB monthly report (Jan); Irish wholesale price index (Dec) and external trade (Oct); US initial jobless claims (Jan 16th), continuing jobless claims (Jan 9th) and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (Jan); UK BBA mortgage approvals, M4 money supply (Dec), public-sector net borrowing (Dec) and CBI industrial trends – business sentiment (Jan); Swiss Zew survey – expectations (Jan); Japanese coincident index (Nov).

FRIDAY

Results: General Electric; Harley-Davidson; McDonald's; Merck.

Indicators: Emu purchasing manager index manufacturing (Jan) and industrial new orders (YoY) (Nov); UK retail sales (Dec); German purchasing manager index (Jan); Japanese all-industry activity index (Nov); Canadian import price index (Q4) and retail sales (Nov).