review the upcoming economic events that you should be monitoring during the week. The

week starts off with a US holiday, the official end of the summer vacation season. Traders

will all be back in their offices with a roar on Tuesday to start off the last quarter of

the year. Markets will be glued to the Federal Reserve meeting next week. Jobs data released

on Friday gave no clear indication for a Federal Reserve decision. The rest of the week is

relatively light in economic data terms. Sterling watchers and loonie followers will get rate

decisions from the UK and Canada during the week, while China data will be particularly

useful following the volatility of the past month and the reopening of the stock market

there following the WWII commemorations. Equity news is light too, although housebuilders

will be in focus. Having been hit by recent turmoil, investors will be hoping that fundamentals

can shine through and justify current valuations. Also on the list is supermarket Morrison’s,

which will be hoping that an update on sales will allow the share price to stage a recovery.

In the US, the key economic data isn’t released until late in the week. And in China key economic

data is released on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, covering trade, inflation, and production,

investment and retail sales. In China, the week kicks off on Tuesday when

China releases its trade data. Economists expect that exports fell at a 5 per cent annual

rate in August, while imports are tipped to slide by 6 per cent. Overall the trade surplus

is expected to have lifted from $43 billion to $51.1 billion in August.

On Thursday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics issues inflation data for August

-- both consumer and producer prices. Inflation is well contained at present with producer

prices still falling, not rising. Economists expect that producer prices fell 5.5 per cent

over the year to August while consumer prices grew 1.9 per cent over the period.

On Sunday the monthly batch of Chinese economic indicators are released -- retail sales, production

and investment. There are signs that Chinese economic activity is gaining pace and investors

would want to see further confirmation of that trend. Expect annual retail sales growth

near 10.6 per cent with production near 6.3 per cent and investment near 11.2 per cent.

The risk is that the results print on the weaker side of expectations -- especially

given that China closed down heavy manufacturers and restricted transport in Beijing due to

the World Athletic championships. We would expect activity levels to lift in coming months.

In the US, the week kicks off on Tuesday with consumer credit figures, the NFIB small business

index and employment trends index. Economists expect that consumers continue to warm to

low borrowing costs with credit tipped to have expanded by US$18 billion in July after

a lift of US$20.7 billion increase in June.