With the economic data flow relatively light, corporate earnings are expected to take centre stage this week. Seventy-six out of the 500 companies on the S&P 500 are scheduled to report.

Monday will be quiet with U.S. markets closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday. There will be no major economic releases from Statistics Canada, either.

On Tuesday, StatsCan will release the composite index of leading indicators.

The first of two key releases comes Wednesday when StatsCan will release the consumer price index for December. The Bank of Canada will be closely watching the report for sings of inflation.

Economist expect December’s annual rate of inflation to hold steady at 2.4%, unchanged from November.

The core rate is seen rising to 1.7%, from November’s 1.6%. The core rate, which excludes the index’s eight most volatile components, is one of the Bank of Canada’s preferred measures of inflation.

Also on Wednesday, StatsCan will release data on international securities transactions for November.

The week’s second key report comes on Thursday, when StatsCan unveils its survey of manufacturing for November.

The week closes with the release of wholesales sales for November.

South of the border, the week gets a late start on Wednesday with the release of the U.S. consumer price index for December.

Economists forecast the December CPI to climb by 0.1%, following November’s 0.2% increase. The core index is expected to climb by 0.2%, the same as the month before.

Thursday will bring the release of the U.S. composite index of leading indicators for December, along with U.S. weekly jobless claims, and the Philly Fed index.

On Friday, traders will get a look at the U.S.: Michigan consumer sentiment index for January.

The flood of earnings continues next week. On Monday, investors will see results from Husky Energy.

Tuesday brings reports from U.S. heavy-weights 3M Company, Bank of America, International Business Machines, Motorola, U.S. Bancorp, and Yahoo

On Wednesday, eBay, General Motors, JP Morgan Chase, Pfizer, and Symantec are among the companies scheduled to release quarterly earnings.

Thursday will see reports from AT&T, Citigroup, Ford Motor, Sunoco and Tembec.

Dow component General Electric reports on Friday.