Catalysts to Watch; Canadian Banks Reporting Earnings

· On the corporate front, there are a few more Apr-end earnings due, inc. a handful of retailers (COST, BIG, JCG on Thurs) and tech firms (NTAP is Wed night).  HNZ reports Thurs before the open.  TOL reports Wed and MDT is on Tues.  All the big Canadian banks will be posting their earnings (BMO on Wed; TD, RY, CM on Thurs).  In Greece, NBG (National Bank of Greece) reports Wed morning and will be in focus.  We will get the first tech mid-Q update (NVLS is Thurs night) and Ford (F) has an analyst meeting on Fri.  There will be a few Treasury auctions to watch – Tues May 25 ($42B of 2s), Wed May 26 ($40B of 5s), Thurs May 27 ($31B of 7s).  Upcoming Economics – In the US we’ll get a few more May data points next week in the Richmond Fed, Consumer Confidence, Chicago PMI and Jobless Claims. Recall that datapoints so far for May have been weaker than expected (i.e. leading indicators, jobless claims and Empire manufacturing). We’ll also get a 2nd look at Q1 GDP and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. In Europe, European Industrial new order and UK GDP will hit. Central banks will be relatively quiet with the FOMC, BoE, ECB and BoJ not set to hold meetings until mid-June.  The week of 5/24 should be a relative non-event but investors are looking forward to the calendar starting Mon 5/31 as it will give a bunch of important data points for the month of May (in the US, we get both ISMs and then the May labor report on Fri 6/4; we will also get May auto sales as well as updates from the country’s major retailers; in China, we get the May PMI on 5/31).  Also – on June 3-5 there will be a G20 finance ministers meeting.