Asia-Europe Summit & IMF & World Bank Meetings Key the Week

This Week

This week's stock market schedule offers much more than just the monthly employment report. There are huge meetings planned for the week, with the Asia-Europe Summit scheduled for Brussels and the IMF and World Bank meetings planned for Washington. Several important economic reports litter the schedule, including all the regular jobs data-points, chain store sales data, ISM's Nonmanufacturing Report and the formal launch of earnings season.

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This Week: Asia-Europe Summit & IMF & World Bank Meetings Key

We covered Monday's economic schedule in our earlier article found here.

Tuesday

News from overseas should meet the early morning wire, as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) issues its latest monetary policy decision. Look also for the meeting between China's Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the Asia-Europe Summit to attract media attention, given recent naval interactions between the two neighbors and historic enemies.

Back in New York City, the India Investment Forum will host India's finance minister and executives from 40 high-growth and significant Indian firms. Remember "Rogue Trader" Jerome Kerviel, of Societe' Generale? His trial has concluded, and a verdict will be delivered Tuesday to the poor lug.

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) will publish its latest Weekly Same-Store Sales data Tuesday morning. Last week's results, which covered the week ending September 25, showed a 0.4% weekly rise. On a year-over-year basis, sales increased 3.6%. Redbook marked the yearly sales increase at 2.5%. Now that we have cleared the Labor Day holiday and the back-to-school impact, we should get clearer reads on consumer spending activity through this report.

At 10:00 AM ET, look for the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) to post its Non-Manufacturing Index. Economists see this September reading showing the index at a mark of 52.0, just barely in expansionary territory. The service sector barometer fell 3 points in August, to 51.5, and so the report appears to us pivotal for trade on Tuesday. Signs from the Chicago PMI offer some hope the index might stay above water in September.

In DC doings, a Senate subcommittee will hold a joint hearing to determine how the president might use an expedited recession authority. This seems to have a snowball's shot in hell of getting passed through a confrontational Congress.

In corporate news, look for Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC) CEO to discuss innovation before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Metals USA's (Nasdaq: MUSA) IPO lockup period concludes Tuesday.

The day's earnings schedule includes reports from Diamond Foods (Nasdaq: DMND), Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (Nasdaq: RMCF), Team Inc. (Nasdaq: TISI), Wolverine World Wide (NYSE: WWW) and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM).

The Jefferies & Co. (NYSE: JEF) Global SpecPharma & European Healthcare Conference offers presentations by ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA), Covidien (NYSE: COV), and Impax Laboratories (Nasdaq: IPXL), Merck (NYSE: MRK). The William Blair & Company Emerging Growth Stock Conference brings news from Aruba Networks (Nasdaq: ARUN), Aspen Technology (Nasdaq: AZPN), Delcath Systems (Nasdaq: DCTH), Encore Capital Group (Nasdaq: ECPG), Lawson Products (Nasdaq: LAWS), NetLogic Microsystems (Nasdaq: NETL) and Parexel (Nasdaq: PRXL). SuperGen (Nasdaq: SUPG) presents at the Biotechnology Industry Organization Annual BIO Investor Forum. Superior Energy Services (NYSE: SPN) presents at the Johnson Rice & Company Energy Conference. Cedar Fair LP (NYSE: FUN) has a conference call scheduled to discuss its long-term strategy and financial goals. Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) and ONEOK Partners (NYSE: OKE) have investor days scheduled.

Wednesday

The first two of the monthly employment data points arrive Wednesday. Challenger's Job-Cuts Report is first to the wire in the early premarket. It only measures announced corporate layoffs, and excludes hiring activity, but offers some insight into the corporate mood. Last month's data covering August showed announced corporate layoffs eased to 34,768, as compared with the 41,676 seen in July. The level for August was very low, and so an increase in September would not be much of a market mover, unless the aggregate level of layoffs increases significantly; this could occur due to a down-shift in the manufacturing space, which we have been pointing to here. Also, government jobs are disappearing, interestingly enough, given the government's focus on job creation. State and municipalities must balance budgets, and so they cannot avoid job cuts.

The ADP Private Employment Report regularly garners more market attention than Challenger's, and its release is also due in the premarket Wednesday. The data on the net change in the private labor force serves as a precursor and predictor of the Labor Department's Employment Situation Report. The data for August, reported last month, showed a net decrease of 10,000 private labor market jobs. Economists will follow the release closely, and so should you. However, it only precedes the more important report by two days, and so is limited in impact. Traders usually wait the 48 hours before banking cash or putting it to work.

Last week's mortgage activity data covering the period ended September 24 showed the Market Composite Index of activity decreased 0.8%, on a 1.6% decline in Refinance Activity, which represents 81% of total activity. The Purchase Index improved by 2.4%, but purchase activity represents a smaller portion of the aggregate, and so had a smaller impact. Refi activity benefited from a six basis point drop in contracted rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages, to 4.38%.

The EIA reports on Petroleum Status each Wednesday at 10:30. Last week's report covering the period ended September 24 showed a decrease of 0.5 million barrels. Total motor gasoline stores decreased by 3.5 million barrels. Both crude oil and gasoline stocks remain above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is thought to be preparing to introduce a new Android phone at the CTIA industry conference Wednesday. Zumiez (Nasdaq: ZUMZ) is due to report September sales. Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO) will hold an analysts meeting Wednesday.

Wednesday's EPS schedule includes news from Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI), CalAmp (Nasdaq: CAMP), Cellu Tissue (NYSE: CLU), Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Helen of Troy (Nasdaq: HELE), Immucor (Nasdaq: BLUD), Marriott International (NYSE: MAR), Monsanto (NYSE: MON), Richardson Electronics (Nasdaq: RELL), Robbins & Myers (NYSE: RBN), RPM International (NYSE: RPM) and Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RT).

The Craig Hallum Capital Group Inc. Alpha Select Conference brings presentations by Caribou Coffee (Nasdaq: CBOU), eDiets.com (Nasdaq: DIET), and Zix Corp. (Nasdaq: ZIXI). The Johnson Rice & Company Energy Conference offers presentations by Complete Production Services (NYSE: CPX), Newfield Exploration (NYSE: NFX), and SM Energy (NYSE: SM). The Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (NYSE: DB) Leveraged Finance Conference offers news from Dana Holding (NYSE: DAN), Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET), Hercules Offshore (Nasdaq: HERO), MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS), and Tenneco (NYSE: TEN).

Thursday

The formal start to earnings season coincides with the report from Alcoa (NYSE: AA) Thursday, along with news from AngioDynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO), Dragonwave (Nasdaq: DRWI), International Speedway (Nasdaq: ISCA), Material Sciences (Nasdaq: MASC), Micron Technology (NYSE: MU), Navisite (Nasdaq: NAVI), Nu Horizons Electronic (NYSE: NUHC), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Premier Exhibitions (Nasdaq: PRXI), and Tortoise Capital Resources (NYSE: TTO).

Most retailers will report Chain Store Sales for the month of September individually on Thursday. The rate of chain store sales growth was higher in August than in July, measuring approximately +2.5%. September's sales may also benefit from the late falling of the Labor Day holiday, which allowed for extended back-to-school shopping.

Two more employment data points come due on Thursday. The Monster Employment Index (MEI) will arrive early in the premarket. Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) offers the regular data covering online job demand. This latest check will match against August's 2 point decline to a mark of 136. But to put that into perspective, it was still much better than August of 2009, which stood at 121.

Weekly Jobless Claims are due as usual at 8:30. In the week ended September 25, jobless claims eased to 453K, from 469K the prior week. The four-week moving average also improved, to 458K last week, and the insured unemployment rate improved to 3.5%. If we drop below 450K this week, investors might get a bit excited.

The EIA reports on Natural Gas Inventory Thursday at 10:30. Last week's report covering the period ended September 24 showed natural gas inventory increased by 74 Bcf. At current levels, natural gas stocks rank 166 Bcf less than last year at this time and 202 Bcf above the 5-year average.

Consumer Credit is due at 3:00 PM. After credit contracted by $3.6 billion in July, economists are looking for it to show narrowing by another $4.0 billion in August.

Both the ECB and Bank of England are due to make monetary policy decisions Thursday. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) addresses reporters in Washington, while Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig (dissenter extraordinaire) is due to address an economic forum hosted by the KC Fed at 1:30 PM. Pimco's CEO Mohamed El-Erian will address the 92nd Street Y in New York on the future of the economy. I can walk there!

The Johnson Rice & Company Energy Conference offers news from Abraxas Petroleum (Nasdaq: AXAS) and Crimson Exploration (Nasdaq: CXPO). The Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Leveraged Finance Conference brings presentations by Amkor (Nasdaq: AMKR), ArvinMeritor (NYSE: ARM), Belo (NYSE: BLC), Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK), Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV), Owens-Illinois (NYSE: OI) and Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN).

Friday

Relatively bad news is expected from the Labor Department's Employment Situation Report Friday. The unemployment rate is expected to bump up to 9.7%, from 9.6% in August. Nonfarm Payrolls are seen flat in September, after posting a net decrease of 54K in August.

The monthly Wholesale Trade Report is due Friday at 10:00 AM, and will be overshadowed by the jobs data and likely forgotten quickly, due to the Friday reporting date. July's data showed wholesale inventories increased by 1.3%. Economists are looking for another increase of 0.5% for the August report. Wholesale sales only rose by 0.6% in July, which took the inventory-to-sales ratio up slightly to 1.16, which is still relatively low. Still, the direction was troubling, and meaningful for economic forecasts.

You will find New World Order flavor in Washington DC Friday, as the IMF and World Bank are in town for their annual meetings. Expect to see some significant protests play out in DC town. Also, Federal Reserve Governor Dan Tarullo will speak about international financial regulation to the Bretton Woods Committee in Washington.

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.