Canadian markets closed on Thanksgiving Monday

There will be barely enough time to digest the turkey before traders are faced with a slew of economic data and earnings reports:
>U.S. markets were open Monday, despite it being Columbus Day.
>Tuesday brings housing start numbers in Canada.
>On Wednesday, the U.S. will report wholesale inventories and host the second presidential debate.
>Thursday the U.S. will release the latest import price and initial jobless claims reports. None of these reports are expected to attract that much attention, though, economists at both RBC Dominion Securities and CIBC World Markets are predicting further rate hikes in the U.S. after the election.
>On Friday, the U.S. will report its Producer Price Index and retail sales. Canada reports new motor vehicle sales. CIBC World Markets says to expect big numbers for both September retail sales and PPI. “The latter, of course, will be largely an energy-driven story, and inflation doves may take comfort by the recent pull-back in crude.”

CIBC isn’t expecting much in the way of fireworks. “The economic data will be largely a bore, with housing starts topping the agenda. Building permits have seen a solid jump, and we are likely due for a bounce in starts in what has been an unusually choppy series of home building reports. But politics, not economics, is likely to get top billing as markets look for election timing and policy clues.”

The earnings picture should be a little more interesting as warning season gives way to reporting season. Among the Dow Jones stocks reporting this week will be International Paper on Tuesday, General Motors on Thursday, and General Electric likely on Thursday according to First Call. A fair number of technology companies will also report.

Tuesday brings Yahoo!, Motorola, Seagate Technology, Biogen and International Paper. Wednesday sees Advanced Micro Devices reporting, along with Applied Micro Circuits, Delphi Automotive, Gannett, Bestfoods, Fannie Mae, and TLC Laser Eye Centers. On Thursday, Juniper Networks and DoubleClick report joined by Veritas, Gateway, PMC Sierra, KLA-Tencor, Unisys, GM, Costco, Maytag, Office Depot, Guidant, and likely GE. On Friday, Flextronics, Boise Cascade and ADP report.