But the focus for the U.S., here and the rest of the world will be on how far the U.S. Federal Reserve will go to in cutting interest rates to revive an economy that most analysts now agree is already in a recession.
"We see the Fed as having no reason to go light on its rate cut," said Avery Shenfeld, economist at CIBC World Markets, which expects a half-point cut on Wednesday after its two-day rate review meeting.
And that's even before economists see the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report, which comes out Thursday. The consensus among economists is that the report will show the U.S. economy contracted at an annualized pace of 0.5%.
"Even without the latest GDP data in hand, a steady stream of grim economic data, including nine consecutive months of non-farm job losses, has made it abundantly clear that the United States is in recession," said Meny Grauman, another analyst at CIBC, which projects the shrinkage will be an even greater 0.7%. "This makes the expected drop in third quarter real GDP growth less of a surprise and more of a confirmation of an open secret."
But the big picture report on the U.S. economy will be only one of a string of bad reports out of the U.S. through the week, which analysts say will include further declines in new home sales, house prices, consumer confidence, durable goods orders, and personal income and spending.
Canadians will get the bad news about their economy Friday, with analysts expecting a Statistics Canada report on August GDP to show a 3% drop in overall industrial output.
"We look for a significant retracement in August from the surprising surge in the prior month," said Douglas Porter, economist at BMO Capital Markets, which is more pessimistic than the consensus and is projecting a 0.5% contraction in GDP during the month.
"In fact, there has been a sea of red from almost all the preliminary indicators for August," he said. "Manufacturing sales were down 3.7%, wholesale trade fell 3.3% and retail sales were down 0.3%, all pointing to a marked decline in the broader economy."
While Canada, unlike the U.S., should continue to avoid a technical recession at least through the third quarter thanks to a strong start to the quarter, Mr. Porter warned the evidence since suggests the economy will go into recession in the final quarter of the year and continue to continue to shrink through the first half of the year.
Meanwhile, there will be a continuing stream of corporate earnings reports through the week that won't likely inspire any investor confidence, including those of oilpatch giant Suncor Energy and from bacteria battered Maple Leaf Foods.
The reading of the overall mood of corporate Canada, however, will come Tuesday when Statistics Canada releases the results of its latest quarterly survey of thousands of businesses.
Export Development Canada won't likely lighten the mood with its latest global export forecast, also being released Tuesday.
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