Looking Ahead: Week of August 6 through 10

Equities rebounded on Friday after Thursday’s losses and turned the week into a positive one for most of the indexes followed here. In the Asia Pacific region, only the Nikkei (down 0.1 percent) slipped on the week. All European indexes despite the day to day volatility managed to gain on the week. In North America, the S%P/TSX Composite (down 0.9 percent) and the Bolsa (down 1.2 percent) were unable to recoup all of the week’s prior losses. Gains ranged from 0.2 percent (All Ordinaries and Dow) to 3.9 percent (FTSE MIB).

The reasons for Friday’s rebound were the better than anticipated U.S. employment report and second thoughts about ECB President Mario Draghi’s comments at his post meeting press conference Thursday.

Looking Ahead: Week of August 6 through 10 

A light week of economic news is highlighted by consumer credit and international trade.  Confidence numbers are not great but credit data are hard numbers and could point to moderate consumer strength. Meanwhile, trade data are a big question mark due to weakness in Europe and slowing growth in Asia.  But lower oil prices are likely to come into play.