Market watchers face the dog days of August next this, with a light slate of economic releases and a slowing of the earnings reports, all in a holiday-shortened week.

Monday is a holiday in most of Canada this week, and beyond that it’s a pretty light week for data. “The bulk of market attention will fall to the tail end of the week, with the release of the July Labour Force Survey on Friday,” predicts RBC Financial Group. “Mild attention will also be paid to the July Ivey purchasing managers index on Thursday, and June building permits on Tuesday.”

CIBC World Markets agrees that Friday’s employment numbers will be the big event this week, “with the pronounced weakness in Q2 GDP growth expected to keep employers on the sidelines In July.”

BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. says that after adding almost 50,000 jobs in June, a surprisingly strong number, the Canadian economy is expected to add another 10,000 in July. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 7.7%. “The Canadian economy is likely to have shown no growth in Q2, but activity is seen picking up through the rest of the year. Manufacturing is a key area of concern, as the sector has shed 70,000 jobs over the last four months, feeling the pinch of the strong Canadian dollar and the slowdown in the demand for Canadian produced goods,” Nesbitt says.

Outside of the jobs report, CIBC warns that June’s purchasing managers’ data “seemed to be an outlier” among other data, “so watch for a big drop-off in the Ivey PMI report”.

Nesbitt says that the value of building permits in June rebounded by perhaps 1% after a 2% drop in May. “Looking ahead, the backup in bond yields has already started to pressure mortgage rates higher and will cool off the housing market through the latter half of the year. As with housing starts, building permits have likely peaked for this cycle, even though economic growth is poised to rebound.”

In the U.S., June factory orders will be reported on Monday, followed by the non-manufacturing ISM index on Tuesday, and second-quarter productivity and initial jobless claims on Thursday. “In the U.S., last week’s data flood gives way to a quiet week, giving investors a chance to catch their collective breath,” CIBC says. “We’re surprised that consensus forecasts for productivity are so low, although some of them have yet to be revised for the stronger-than-expected Q2 real GDP report. Factory orders will catch the gains already announced for durables. Claims data have been volatile in July as is often the case, but markets will be looking to see if the recent improvements in jobless benefit applications hold for another week in the usual Thursday data.”

Nesbitt says that the productivity reading is the most important data. “There is no doubt that productivity will surge and costs plunge for the quarter,” it predicts. “Non-manufacturing ISM for July is due and should continue to show decent growth in this sector. Challenger layoffs will be very interesting, particularly if they show a diminishing trend in workforce reductions that is expected to appear relatively soon. Factory orders will be up, based on the strong durable goods report already in hand.”

On the earnings front, there are still a number of firms reporting but the flood of the past couple of weeks eases considerably.

Harmony Gold Mining reports on Monday. Domtar Inc., Fortis Inc., Glamis Gold, Intier Automotive, and Metro Inc. all reveal numbers on Tuesday.

On Wednesday the market will hear from CAE Inc., Canadian Natural Resources, Clearwater Seafoods Income Fund, and Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers.

ARC Energy Trust reports on Thursday, joined by Dorel Industries, Kingsway Financial, Kinross Gold, Newmont Mining and Sleeman Breweries Ltd.

The week closes out with reports from Groupe Laperriere & Verreault Inc., Provident Energy Trust, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Vincor International Inc.