The economic news calendar looks rather slight for next week, the first full trading week of the new year.

“In the U.S., monthly economic releases won’t provide market moving news in the week ahead. Instead, attention will turn to U.S. corporate results, capping an earnings warning season that hasn’t been nearly as head turning as in the past two quarters,” notes CIBC World Markets. “In Canada, there’s more room for fireworks from the data, with the key December employment report on the docket.”

Before that report though, U.S. factory orders are reported on Tuesday. Wednesday brings housing start numbers in Canada. “Starts probably stayed quite robust in December, and a much stronger-than-consensus result is possible, given the very mild weather last month in much of the country,” says BMO Nesbitt Burns.

On Thursday, building permit data gets released. In the U.S., Fed chairman Alan Greenspan is speaking, but is not expected to address the economy explicitly.

Friday finally brings Canada’s December jobs report. “We admit to being puzzled by the failure of the jobs data to match up with output declines, although total hours worked have shown the expected contraction. We look for a catch-up drop in employment, and a further rise in the jobless rate, to put the pressure on the Bank of Canada to do more than the market now expects,” says CIBC.

BMO expects a 10,000 decline. “However, another small increase would shock no-one, given the resilient performance of the prior three months,” it notes. “This will be the last major economic report the Bank of Canada sees before deciding on interest rates on January 15. A modest 25 basis point trim appears to be the most likely step at that time.”

In the U.S., the producer price index is due on Friday, and Alan Greenspan has another talk scheduled. “U.S. market watchers will see the beginning of the December inflation story this week,” says BMO. “December PPI is expected to dip 0.2%, with core prices roughly flat. The outlook is for deflation in factory prices as we enter 2002.”

There are no major earnings reports due next week, with earnings warnings likely rabbing the corporate headlines.