Looking Ahead: October 29 through November 2, 2012

Equities were lower last week on mixed economic data and disappointing earnings reports. Unease about the European debt situation continued to make investors wary. The Federal Reserve, Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand chose to leave their monetary policies unchanged. Both UK and U.S. first estimates of third quarter GDP were better than expected. Flash PMIs however, showed continued contraction everywhere but in the U.S. The Bank of Japan meets Tuesday and is expected to add to its asset purchase program. The week is a busy one with key economic data on tap globally along with a continuing onslaught of earnings reports. Among the important data to be released are final manufacturing PMIs globally, Japan’s monthly deluge of new economic data and in the U.S. a slew of reports culminating in the employment situation report on Friday.