Calendar of events to watch 02.23.10

Calendar of events to watch

·

Bernanke’s HH testimony

2/24-25 (House/Senate, respectively);

·

Health Care -

televised bipartisan summit on 2/25

·

Toyota’s president

will appear before Congress on 2/24 to provide an update on

that co’s recent recall

·

The House is hosting a hearing on Tues discussing the jobs market

and on Thurs

discussing executive compensation

.

·

Sen Dodd is expected to unveil his proposed legislation for overhauling the

nation’s financial regulatory framework

sometime this week.

·

It’s a pretty heavy week for bond issuance

(2s 2/23, 5s 2/24, 7s 2/25).

·

We could start to hear more on new short selling rules

(Reuters reported late on

Fri that the SEC will consider new short sale restrictions at an open meeting Wed).

·

In Europe,

press reports have indicated that Greece may try to test the waters

w/a debt deal

this week in an attempt to rebuild investor confidence.

·

Catalysts to watch coming up for financials: 1) earnings

(the only big ones left

are out of Europe - RBS Thurs morning and Lloyds Fri morning);

2) conference

season

starts to heat up again - BoA/Merrill insurance conf 2/23-24 and Keefe

Bruyette's regional bank conf 2/24-25;

3) analyst meetings

- JPM is Thurs morning

Economic Events – daily view

·

Wednesday, Feb. 24th:

US (MBA Mortgage Applications, New Home Sales);

Eurozone (German GDP, GfK Consumer Confidence Survey); Other (RBA Inflation

Expectations Report).

·

Thursday, Feb. 25th:

US (Durable Goods Orders, Jobless Claims, House Price

Index); Eurozone (French PPI, German Unemployment Rate, Eurozone Consumer

Confidence); Other (Japan CPI).

·

Friday, Feb. 26th:

US (GDP, PCE, Chicago PMI, Existing Home Sales); Eurozone

(UK GDP, Eurozone CPI, German CPI); Other (n/a).