Catalysts to Watch; ECB meeting Thurs morning;a lot of European debt sales; Congress returns from recess

Catalysts to Watch
· ECB meeting Thurs morning (recall after last meeting sp500 sold off 3.2% due to a failure to address investor worries on sovereign debt; it will be critical for stocks to see if Trichet & Co have found religion by this meeting & press conf); preview from JPMorgan’s Greg Fuzesi - At the moment, we are expecting only a modest set of measures from the central bank at next Thursday’s meeting, but the situation could change in the coming week.  All we are likely to get is an announcement of further unlimited threeand possibly six-month tenders, and possibly an extension of the commitment to offer unlimited weekly and monthly tenders beyond the autumn.  Meanwhile, the controversial sovereign bond purchases continue, albeit at a more moderate pace.  The ECB will also publish the new staff forecasts for GDP growth and inflation (ECB to revise up near-term growth and inflation forecast and make few changes for next year).
· European finance ministers meeting - Mon evening the Eurogroup meets (the Finance Ministers of the Euro area countries) ahead of the full Ecofin meeting Tues (the Finance Ministers of the whole EU). Expectations have built regarding policy announcements in two areas: the structure of the Special Purpose Vehicle which is part of the European Stabilisation Mechanism, and reforms of the Stability and Growth Pact. At this stage, we don't know for sure whether anything will be announced or not.  D Mackie.
· a lot of European debt sales - Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy will issue up to EUR26 billion of bonds next week (the Spanish sale in particular will be watched as it will be the first one to come since the recent Fitch downgrade)

· Bernanke speaks (will have an interview on ABC on June 7 and will testify before House June 9 at 10amET) – this will be his chance to set the record straight following a few hawkish comments from his colleagues this week and the poor BLS number Fri
· new circuit breaker rules Tues June 8 (they were supposed to start on Mon June 7 although the NYSE said Fri afternoon that they no longer will commence on that date pending SEC approval;
· Congress returns from recess – watch for resumption of fin reg reform reconciliation process;
· Sen Lincoln run-off election June 8 (getting this out of the way could pave the way for amendment to be removed from legislation);
· AAPL WWDC on Mon June 7 (expected to unveil next-gen iPhone – more than any product launch, the biggest event will prob. be pricing; Jobs starts speaking @ 1pmET);
· earnings – NSM is the first company w/a May-end Q to post earnings (they come on Thurs);
· semis – important data points w/ALTR and TXN mid-Q updates and NSM earnings
· JPMorgan conferences – we will be hosting an Industrials conf June 8-9 and a China conf June 9-11 (given that the resource/industrials have been some of the weakest US sectors of late and people are very concerned about China slowing more than expected, these events are very timely).