On Monday, Statistics Canada reports on international securities transactions in August.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Canada sets its benchmark interest rate. Economists expect the key overnight rate to remain unchanged at 0.25%.

StatsCan reports on wholesale sales in August. An increase of 0.5% from a month earlier is forecast.

Separately, StatsCan reports on leading indicators for September. A increase of 0.7% from the previous month is forecast.

On Thursday, the Bank of Canada releases its monetary policy report.

Statistics Canada releases retail sales data for August. Economists expect a month-over-month increase of 0.2%.

South of the border

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labour reports on the producer price index for September. Economists expect no change from August, and a year-over-year drop of 4.3%.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reports on housing starts and building permits for September. Economists expect 610,000 housing starts on an annualized basis; building permits are expected at an annualized 590,000.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve releases its periodic Beige Book survey of U.S. economic conditions.

On Thursday, the U.S. Labour Dept. reports on initial jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 17. Economists forecast 515,000 claims, up from 514,000 a week earlier.

The U.S. Conference Board reports on leading indicators in September. Economists expect a rise of 0.8% is expected.

The U.S. Commerce Dept. reports on the housing price index for August. A monthly rise of 0.3% is expected.

On Friday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks before a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston conference.

The U.S. National Association of Realtors reports on existing home sales in September. An increase of 5.4% from the previous month to 5.38 million annualized sales is expected.

Corporate earnings

On Monday, Hasbro Inc. reports its third-quarter results, as does Texas Instruments.

Apple Inc. reports fourth-quarter results.

On Tuesday, Canadian National Railway Co. reports third-quarter earnings, as does Caterpillar Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Blackrock Inc., Pfizer Inc., Coca-Cola Co., UAL Corp., and Yahoo Inc.

On Wednesday, Husky Energy Inc. reports its third-quarter results, as does eBay Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Boeing Co., U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo & Co.

On Thursday, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. reports third-quarter results as does Celestica Inc., Precision Drilling Trust, 3M Co., American Express Co., Amazon.com Inc., AT&T Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Capital One Financial Corp., International Forest Products Ltd., McDonald’s Corp.,
Merck & Co. Inc., Philip Morris International Inc., Dow Chemical Co., TimberWest Forest Corp., and Xerox Corp.

On Friday, Microsoft Corp. reports its third-quarter results, as does Honeywell International Inc.

IE