There is hardly any economic data set to be released in Canada this week, but the glut of releases from the United States will more than take up the slack.

RBC Financial says that Tuesday brings the Canadian trade account which provides an update on export and import activity in the month of March. Vehicle sales in March are scheduled for release on Wednesday. “Thursday provides an important update on manufacturing conditions in Canada with shipments, inventories and other indicators slated for release,” RBC says.

CIBC World Markets says that the already-released factory layoffs data likely went hand in hand with a poor month for manufacturing activity. “That should take shipments down a further half percent in March, and will also contribute to another decline in exports. The export tally will be cushioned a bit by the strength in energy prices in March, a benefit that will vanish in the April figures.”

BMO Nesbitt Burns indicates that the soaring Canadian dollar is bound to eventually take a bite out of Canada’s healthy trade surplus. “First, those exports priced in U.S. dollars (such as most materials) will translate back into fewer Canadian dollars. Second, and more gradually, the stronger currency will have an impact on volumes — crimping exports and encouraging imports.” For March, Nesbitt says the trade surplus is expected to remain at a fairly healthy level of $4.3 billion.

Nesbitt is also looking for shipments and orders to slip in March, undercut by a small decline in auto production and declining industrial prices. “This would mark the fourth decline in shipments in the past five months, and offer vivid additional evidence that the factory sector is rapidly emerging as the weakest area of the economy.”

If the anticipation of that schedule of data isn’t inspiring, there’s lots to look forward to in the U.S. this week. Nothing is due out on Monday. But the U.S. also gets its March trade data on Tuesday, followed by April’s retail sales on Wednesday.

“Thursday will carry important updates on the business sector and have markets watching for updates on industrial production, business inventories, producer price indexes, and the Philadelphia Fed index of manufacturing activity in the surrounding federal reserve district,” notes RBC. “Friday carries a number of important consumer sector updates by closing off the week with CPI data for March, housing starts for April, and the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey for May.”

CIBC says, “In the U.S., a flood of data should help fixed income markets hold recent gains and should be a bit of a negative for equities. We expect a sub-consensus outcome for retail sales as the Commerce Department corrects for the late Easter, and look for CPI to be negative month-over-month on falling gasoline prices and a continuation of subdued core price trends. If industrial production shows only a small decline, that will likely be only because utilities output rebounded after a sharp March tumble. All told, these first indications of second quarter activity will echo the weakness in April payrolls, pointing to no quick post-war cure for what ails the U.S. economy.”

Nesbitt agrees that the market will certainly key on the inflation readings, but it is not worried about deflation. “We think that a huge currency depreciation, fast money growth, and rising crude- and intermediate-materials prices suggest, at a minimum, that core inflation will bottom soon. As you can tell, we are testy on the subject and another ultra-low CPI reading will only make us more so.”

“The other key issue the data will address is the post-war snapback, if any,” Nesbitt says. “The Empire State and Philly Fed regional factory surveys and initial claims for jobless insurance will get close scrutiny on that score, as will any fade in the immediate consumer confidence rebound that might be reported with the Michigan survey. The initial jump in confidence surveys could have had a substantial flag-waving component and economic reality might be starting to bite.”

There will also be a fairly busy slate of earnings releases out this week. A couple of REITs report on Monday. Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Axcan Pharmaceuticals, Boardwalk Equities, Computer Sciences Corporation, Intrawest, Sleeman Brewing, and a bunch of REITs report on Tuesday.

Wednesday will bring Canadian Tire Corp., Power Financial, RONA inc. and several income funds. Iamgold, Power Corp., and several trusts report on Thursday.