On Monday, Statistics Canada reports on international securities transactions for February.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Canada makes interest rate announcement. Economists expect a cut in the benchmark rate of one-half of a percentage point, to 3%.

On Wednesday, StatsCan reports on retail sales for February. A monthly gain of 0.3% is forecast.

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

South of the border

On Tuesday, the U.S. National Association of Realtors reports on existing home sales in March. Sales are expected to decline 1.6% to 4.93 million units, annualized.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports on durable goods orders in March. Economists expect an increase of 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labour reports on initial jobless claims for the week ended April 19. Economists forecast 375,000 claims.

On Friday, the University of Michigan issues its final index of consumer sentiment for April. Economists expect a reading of 64.3.

Corporate earnings

On Monday, Canadian National Railway Co. reports its first quarter results, as does Fording Canadian Coal Trust, Teck Cominco Ltd., TransAlta Corp., and Bank of America Corp.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. reports its Q1 results on Tuesday, as does EnCana Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

Wednesday brings reports from Amazon.com Inc., Norbord Inc., Precision Drilling Trust, and Toromont Industries Ltd.

Canada Bread Co. Ltd. reports Q1 results on Thursday, along with Celestica Inc., Dow Chemical Co., Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Microsoft Corp., PepsiCo Inc., Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., and Suncor Energy Inc.

On Friday, Brookfield Properties Corp. reports Q1 profit as does TransCanada Corp. reports.