THE ECONOMIC data likely to generate the most headlines this week will come on Friday when the Central Statistics Office releases external trade figures for March.

Although exports held up fairly well in the first two months of the year, Bloxhams chief economist Alan McQuaid has warned that a slowing global economy and a strong euro indicate that demand for Irish goods will eventually weaken. Friday's figures will reveal whether this has already started to happen.

Monday

Results:Big Yellow, Campbell Soup, Cranswick, DCC, Homeserve, Mitie
Meetings:Standard Life agm
Indicators:US leading indicators (Apr); UK Rightmove house prices (Mar); Japanese tertiary index
Other:Trading update from Wood; CIPD conference (to Tuesday, Lyrath Estate Hotel, Kilkenny); AIB Art Prize 2008 (AIB headquarters, Ballsbridge)

Tuesday

Results:Analog Devices, British Land, Dairy Crest, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, ICAP, Imperial Tobacco, KCom, Macquarie, Marks Spencer, SSL, Target, Torotrak, Yell
Meetings:Japanese monetary policy meeting; Dairygold, Regus and Royal Dutch Shell agms
Indicators:US producer price index (Apr); German producer prices (Apr) and ZEW index (May)
Other:Ministers are expected to meet to seek a breakthrough in delayed negotiations for a global trade deal (Geneva)

Wednesday

Results:Bank of Ireland, Britvic, Experian, Gymboree, Napster, Paragon, Trintech
Meetings:ECB meeting; Dragon Oil, French Connection and GlaxoSmithKline agms
Indicators:Irish industrial disputes (Q1) and earnings and labour costs (Q4 '07)
Other:New Horizons Ireland launches EqualSkills, a training course for novice computer users (Strand House, Dublin 1)

Thursday

Results:Air France-KLM, Barnes and Noble, Cable Wireless, Daily Mail General Trust, De La Rue, Gap, London Stock Exchange, Mothercare, Nationwide, Paypoint, Tate Lyle
Meetings:Elan agm (Shelbourne Hotel); Friends Provident agm
Indicators:EU industrial orders (Mar); Irish wholesale price index (Apr)
Other:Bob Geldoff to deliver inaugural Nora Herlihy Memorial Lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of credit unions in Ireland (Kilmainham)

Friday

Meetings:Irish Life Permanent agm (RDS, Ballsbridge); Aegis, Cairn Energy and Michael Page International agms
Indicators:EU PMI flash (May); Irish agricultural price indices (Mar), public sector employment and earnings (Dec), external trade (Mar) and trade statistics (Dec '07)
Other:Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA) annual conference (Santry)