Financial markets will have useful US data to chew on in the coming week as well as revisions to a key Japanese number.

As is often the case, US data will be the focus after Friday's much higher than expected non-farm payrolls. They sent bond market reeling, though losses were later pared.

In the coming week US retail sales for July on Thursday and producer prices for July on Friday will give further clues to the direction of interest rates.

Britain releases the Bank of England's report on inflation trends which will help focus attention on where rates are headed.

No forecasters now expect a cut from the Bank of England, which left rates unchanged this week. Even though inflation is falling, it is expected to start going back up again.

Japan is due to release revisions to its first quarter GDP data on Thursday. This will be closely watched after the preliminary release showed a much firmer economy than expected.

It said growth was up 1.9 per cent from the previous quarter or 7.9 per cent annualised.

Esat Telecom: Esat's first set of interim results since it took a listing on the Dublin market at the end of June will be closely watched on Thursday for any associated comment about the outlook in the wake of the company's failure to secure Cablelink, despite a court challenge.

Turnover has been rising strongly at the company, particularly at its mobile phone subsidiary, Digifone, although losses mounted in the first quarter due to investment in the company and its telecoms infrastructure, its development of new products and the expansion of its customer base.

Monday

Results: British Airways (Q1), Comcast Corp (Q2), Inchcape (H1), Saatchi & Saatchi (H1), Smith & Nephew (H1).

A.G.M.: Foresight Tech (e.g.m.), Providence Resources, Stirling Group (e.g.m.), Yorkshire Water.

Indicators: British producer prices (Jul) and British Retail Consortium retail sales monitor (Jul); US wholesale trade (Jun).

Others: Deadline for potential buyers to apply for information memo on ICC Bank; Inflight ATI begins trading on Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Tuesday

Results: BOC Group (H1), BP Amoco (H1), Cisco Systems (Q2), Cordiant Comms (H1), Henkel (H1), London & St Lawrence (H1), Meredith (Q2), MobilCom (H1), Millenium & Copthorne (H1), Morgan Sindall (H1), Nycomed Amersham (H1), Sanderson Bramall (H1), Stoves, Wal-Mart Stores (Q2).

A.G.M.: Cohen (A) & Co, MacDonald Hotel.

Indicators: EMU M1 and M2 data (Jun); Irish live register flow analysis (Jul) and trade data breakdown (Feb); British acquisitions and mergers data (Q2) and CBI regional trends survey (Aug).

Others: Esat Clear announces details on new Internet products.

Wednesday

Results: BSkyB, CGU (H1), Colt Telecom (Q2), Country Gardens (H1), Pakhoed (H1), Sandvik (H1), SAS (H1), Stewart & Wight, Toad (H1).

A.G.M.: Dragon Oil, John Lusty, Mountview Estates.

Indicators: Irish industry output index (Jun), non-EU trade (Jun) and livestock slaughterings (Jun); British claimant count (Jul), average earnings (Jun), unit wage (Jun), foreign reserves (Jul) and Bank of England inflation report; US Chicago Federal Index (Jun); German industrial production (Jun); French consumer prices (Jul); Norwegian consumer prices (Jul); Swedish PSBR (Jul); Danish retail prices (May/Jun).

Others: Solar eclipse.

Thursday

Results: Aegon (Q2), Bayer (H1), Celsius (H1), Esat Telecom (Q2), Gap (Q2), Independent Insurance Group (H1), K-Mart (Q2), Navisatr Int'l (Q3), Nordstrom (Q2), Perry Group (H1), Saab (H1), Slug & Lettuce Group (H1), Sun Life & Provincial (H1), Torex (H1), Veba (H1).

A.G.M.: Dimension Resources, GB Railways, Highland Distillers (e.g.m.), Lupus Capital (e.g.m.).

Indicators: Irish inflation (Jul) and wholesale price index (Jul); US retail sales (Jul), import/export prices (Jul) and Atlanta Federal Index (Jul); British machine tools (Jun); Spanish unemployment (Q2); Swedish consumer prices (Jul) and industrial production (May).

Friday

Results: Electrolux (H1), United Assurance (H1).

Indicators: US producer prices (Jul) and business inventories (Jun); Canadian composite index (Jul); Spanish consumer prices (Jul).