It’s a quiet week for Canadian economic data, but the heavy flow of corporate earnings releases will keep traders busy.

On Tuesday, Statistics Canada releases retail sales figures for May. Economists expect a 0.7% increase from the previous month.

On Wednesday, StatsCan reports on the consumer price index for June. Economists expect a rise of 2.9% from a year earlier.

South of the border

On Monday, the U.S. Conference Board reports on the leading indicators in June. Economists expect a decrease of 0.1%.

On Wednesday, The U.S. Federal Reserve releases its “Beige Book”, a study of regional economic conditions.

On Thursday, the U.S. Labour Department reports on initial jobless claims for the week ended July 19. Economists are forecasting 380,000 claims.

Meanwhile, the U.S. National Association of Realtors reports on existing home sales in June. Sales are expected to fall 1% to 4.94 million units, annualized.

On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department reports on new home sales in June. Economists forecast a drop of 1.8% to 503,000 homes, annualized.

Separately, Commerce reports on durable goods orders for June. A 0.3% drop is forecast. Excluding transportation, they are forecast to have fallen by 0.2%.

Corporate earnings

Twenty-seven companies in the S&P/TSX composite index are scheduled to release their results this week.

On Monday, Canadian National Railway Co. reports second-quarter results, as does Hasbro Inc., Merck & Co. Inc., and Texas Instruments Inc.

Apple Inc. releases third-quarter results.

On Tuesday Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. releases second-quarter results, as does Caterpillar Inc., Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., Dupont, E*Trade Financial Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., US Airways Group Inc., and U.S. bank Wachovia Corp.

On Wednesday, Fording Canadian Coal Trust releases second-quarter results, as does Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., Husky Energy Inc., Precision Drilling Trust, Teck Cominco Ltd., Boeing Co., Amazon.com Inc., Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Pfizer Inc., ConocoPhillips Co., Northwest Airlines Corp., AB Volvo, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and Volkswagen AG reports on its second quarter.

On Thursday, EnCana Corp. releases second-quarter results, as does Suncor Energy, International Forest Products Ltd., Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., Daimler AG, Credit Suisse Group, Kimberly-Clark Corp., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Goodrich Corp., Newmont Mining Corp., Southwest Airlines Co., Dow Chemical Co., and Xerox Corp.

On Friday, Canada Bread Co. Ltd. reports on its second quarter, as does Black & Decker Corp., and Norbord Inc.