U.S. retail sales and producer prices will highlight the early morning's macroeconomic events for the United States, followed by the preliminary Reuters / University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. In Canada, the focus will be on second-quarter capacity utilization rates and the international investment position.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, Statistics Canada will release its second-quarter capacity utilization rate, which is expected to decrease by one percentage point to 78.8%.

Also at 8:30 a.m. EDT, Statistics Canada will publish its second-quarter international investment position report, which was down C$85 billion in the first quarter.

At the same time in the United States, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release producer prices for August. Headline PPI is expected to decline by 0.5% month-over-month following a 1.2% gain in July, while annual PPI is expected to increase 10.2% compared to the previous month's 9.8% gain. PPI excluding food and energy is expected to rise 0.2% month-over-month after expanding 0.7% previously. Annual core PPI is projected to move higher by 3.7% compared to July's 3.5% increase.

Simultaneously, the U.S. Department of Commerce will release advance retail sales for August, which are expected to post a 0.2% month-over-month increase following July's 0.1% decline. Excluding automobile sales, retail trade is expected to decline 0.2% in August after July's 0.4% rise.

At 10 a.m. EDT, Reuters and the University of Michigan will release the preliminary consumer sentiment index for September. The consensus expects a one point gain to 64.0. Markets will also be paying attention to the current conditions and expectations indexes, which stood at 71.0 and 57.9 respectively in August, as well as the one-year inflation expectations index, which was 3.2% previously.

Also at 10 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Department of Commerce will release July business inventories, which are expected to rise 0.5% month-over-month following a 0.7% increase in June.

8:30 CA Capacity Utilization Rate Q2 Exp: +78.8% Prior: +79.8%

8:30 CA International Investment Position Q2 Prior: -C$85.0B

8:30 US Producer Price Index (M/M) August Exp: -0.5% Prior: +1.2%

8:30 US PPI Ex Food & Energy (M/M) August Exp: +0.2% Prior: +0.7%

8:30 US Producer Price Index (Y/Y) August Exp: +10.2% Prior: +9.8%

8:30 US PPI Ex Food & Energy (Y/Y) August Exp: +3.7% Prior: +3.5%

8:30 US Advance Retail Sales August Exp: +0.2% Prior: -0.1%

8:30 US Retail Sales Less Autos August Exp: -0.2% Prior: +0.4%

8:30 US Assistant Treasury Sec. Solomon Speaking on Taxation of Real Estate

10:00 US University of Michigan/Reuters Confidence September Preliminary Exp: +64.0 Prior: +63.0

10:00 US Business Inventories July Exp: +0.5% Prior: +0.7%

By Erik Kevin Franco and edited by Nancy Girgis
©CEP News Ltd. 2008