After an economic data drought for the past couple of weeks, Canadian markets will get see a flood of information this week. The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday means a relatively quiet schedule for the United States.

In the U.S., data on housing starts is out on Monday. Tuesday brings trade balance info, and that’s it.

Thursday is American Thanksgiving. There’ll be no trading in the U.S. on Thursday, and Friday is just a half day.

“A drop in housing starts in October should be only a bit steeper than consensus expectations, while two-way declines in September trade will be seen as distorted by the disruptions after the 11th. Look for investors to be thinking turkeys, not Treasuries, in this Thanksgiving week,” says CIBC World Markets.

Canadian markets will take up the slack next week, with a slew of data ahead of the next rate decision the following week.

Manufacturing shipment data is out on Monday, followed by merchandise trade data Tuesday. “Perhaps the most interesting report will be merchandise trade, in order to gauge the short-term impact of the border delays,” says BMO Nesbitt Burns. “We expect exports to drop 4%, cutting the trade surplus to $3.6 billion, or back to its underlying trend two years ago.”

On Wednesday, the Consumer Price Index will be released. It is expected to slide a little on continued weakness in gas prices. Thursday brings retail trade numbers.

“Though no Canadian towers were tumbled on the 11th , the shock effect of an attack close to home sank retail sales for the month,” says CIBC. “August may have seen an uptick in Canadian GDP, but the week ahead’s data will point to an even larger decline in September, giving the Bank of Canada ample reason to slash rates another 50 bps on November 27.”

“U.S. data for the month was generally very weak, and we expect to also see massive declines in manufacturing shipments, orders, exports, and retail sales for Canada,” says BMO.

“All of these numbers will probably be seen through the lens of what happened to U.S. retail sales — a big drop in September, followed by an even bigger rebound in October. While we don’t expect many of the Canadian indicators to fully rebound in the months ahead, the string of weak reports may be downplayed, since most analysts will be looking for some recovery next month.”

On the earnings front, Royal Bank is scheduled to announce results on Tuesday. Canadian REIT and Halterm Income Fund report on Monday.

Also on Tuesday we hear from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. and Metro Inc.

Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust reports on Wednesday, along with Bonavista Petroleum, Compton Petroleum and Viking Energy Trust.

Thursday will bring news from Cominar REIT and Ketch Energy. APF Energy Trust is the lone reporter scheduled for Friday.