The US reporting season kicks off in earnest this week, with figures from a host of companies, including many in the banking and pharmaceutical sectors and software giant Microsoft.
Analysts are watching the figures closely for signs of corporate reinvestment or any hiccup in the fledgling US economic recovery.
On the economic front, attention will focus on figures from Germany which are due Thursday or Friday.
Monday
Results: 3M (Q3), Altera Corp (Q3), Cendant (Q3), Citigroup (Q3), Hasbro (Q3), Legal & General (Q3), Lexmark (Q3), Norsk Hydro (Q3), Novartis (Q3), Southwest Airlines (Q3), Texas Instruments (Q3), Valeo (H1).
Meetings: Waterford Chamber of Commerce conference on the post-Celtic Tiger economic climate (Tower Hotel, Waterford); 11th annual informal APEC economic leaders meeting (Bangkok - to Tues).
Indicators: US leading indicators (Sep); British public sector net cash requirement (Sep); German producer prices (Sep).
Others: Sustainable Energy Ireland publishes annual report.
Tuesday
Results: Allied Domecq, Amazon.com (Q3), Amgen (Q3), Arm Holdings (Q3), AT&T (Q3), Avaya (Q4), Avery Dennison (Q3), DaimlerChrysler (Q3), Electrolux (Q3), Handelsbanken (Q3), Logitech (Q2), Marsh & McLennan (Q3), Mellon Financial (Q3), Occidental Petroleum (Q3), Owens Illinois (Q3), SBC Communications (Q3), Schlumburger (Q3), Seagate Technology (Q1), US Airways (Q3), Wells Fargo (Q3).
A.G.M.: Brambles Industries, Elan.
Meetings: National Transport Users' Association and National Roads Authority address Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport; First Tuesday on "Finding your way through M&A" (Berkeley Court Hotel, Dublin); IAPF Trustee Forum on "Serving Pension Fund Trustees" (Berkeley Court Hotel, Dublin).
Indicators: British CBI survey on confidence (Q3) and orders (Oct); Italian consumer confidence (Oct).
Others: JNLR radio listenership interim figures published; German Finance Ministry releases monthly economic report.
Wednesday
Results: Adecco (Q3), Alcan (Q3), Allegheny Technologies (Q3), Allergan (Q3), AMR (Q3), Black & Decker (Q3), Burlington Resources (Q3), Computer Associates (Q2), A.T.Cross (Q3), Deutsche Latin American, DuPont (Q3), Eastman Kodak (Q3), Egg (Q3), Eli Lilly (Q3), Flextronics (Q2), Fred Olsen Energy (Q2), GlaxoSmithKline (Q3), Ingersoll-Rand (Q3), JP Morgan Chase (Q3), Kimberly-Clark (Q3), Lucent Technologies (Q4), McDonalds (Q3), Merck (Q3), Parthusceva (Q3), Pfizer (Q3), Schering Plough (Q3), STMicroelectronics (Q3), Symantec (Q2), Time Warner (Q3), Wyeth (Q3).
A.G.M.: Diageo, Linx Printing.
Meetings: Minister for Finance Mr McCreevy addresses European Investment Bank (EIB) 2003 forum on "Visions of Environmental Sustainability: Europe's Long Term Energy and Water Policies" (Fours Seasons Hotel, Dublin - to Sat); Broadband conference (Letterkenny Institute of Technology - to Thurs); Blanchardstown Chamber of Commerce breakfast briefing with Aer Lingus chief executive Mr Willie Walsh (Luttrelstown Castle, Dublin).
Indicators: French consumer spending (Sep).
Others: Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales gives Eighth annual RTE/UCD Law Faculty "Broadcasting Society and the Law" lecture (O'Reilly Hall, UCD).
Thursday
Results: Arc International (Q3), AstraZeneca (Q3), Bristol-Myers Squibb (Q3), Cardinal Health (Q3), Celestica (Q3), Colgate Palmolive (Q3), Collins & Hayes (H1), Dassault Systemes (Q3), El Paso Electric (Q3), Gateway (Q3), JetBlue Airways (Q3), KLM (H1), Marathon (Q3), Microsoft (Q1), NCR (Q3), Nortel Networks (Q3), Raytheon (Q3), Shell (Q3) Sony (Q2), Sportingbet (H1), Trinity Biotech (Q3), UPM Kymmene (Q3), Western Wireless (Q3), Xerox (Q3).
Meetings: European Central Bank governing council meets; Meeting of potential donors to raise funds for rebuilding Iraq (Madrid - to Fri); University of Ulster Knowledge Club equity funding seminar (Science Innovation Centre) .
Indicators: Irish wholesale prices (Sep); German consumer prices (Oct); Italian retail sales (Aug).
Others: German Finance Ministry is expected to publish its latest growth projections for this year and next.
Friday
Indicators: Irish industrial production and turnover (Aug), motor sales (Sep) and resident holdings of foreign portfolio securities (2002); British GDP (Q3) and retail sales (Sep); German import prices (Sep).
