Diary: Europe, Facebook, Aust Retailer Sales

The health of the world's manufacturing sector will again be tested this week by the monthly surveys of activity across Asia (led by China), Europe and the US.

Those results will be issued Wednesday, starting with Australia and then the two surveys of China's economy (official and from HSBC).

America's survey will be out Wednesday night, our time.

It should show further expansion, if the comments last week from some of America's leading manufacturing companies is any guide.

But the economic data and other results could be overshadowed by the IPO for Facebook which could happen on Wednesday night our time.

US business media reports at the weekend said the float was heading for a pricing round that would see the social media giant list on Wednesday in a sale that could see it valued at more than $US100 billion.

Later in the week we will also see released the monthly results for surveys of activity in the services sectors of the various economies, which are more important given the dominance services have in the advanced economies (sectors such as retailing and healthcare).

Investors are hoping see a slight expansion in China's manufacturing survey (called a PMI), after several weak months.

Besides China, the focus in both surveys will be on the eurozone where, despite the gloomy talk of recession and the weakness in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, there were surprising signs of expansion in January, led of course by Germany.

In Australia, sales figures from retailers Coles and Woolworths will dominate the local corporate area.

The other important bit of data will be America's January jobs figures, and the unemployment rate, to be released Friday night, our time.

US economists see between 150,000 and 200,000 jobs created in January (down from 200,000, but that number contained around 50,000 temporary jobs from transport and online retailers).

The unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 8.5%.

Other US economic data will include personal income and spending figures for December (which will influence the second estimate of 4th quarter GDP), the S&P Case Schiller house price survey and the US Conference Board's consumer confidence (Tuesday) and the ISM non-manufacturing conditions index (and the services sector survey on Friday).

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is before the US House of Representatives Budget Committee later in the week.

And car sales for January will be released on Wednesday night, our time. US analysts expect another sold sales performance for the month.

The US 4th quarter earnings season continues with around 100 of the S&P 500 component companies posting quarterly results.

They include Exxon Mobil, Amazon, UPS, Pfizer, Kellogg, AOL, MasterCard. US Steel McKesson, Aetna, Whirlpool, Allstate, Kellogg, Dow Chemical and Viacom

News Corp reports second quarter results on Wednesday morning from New York, our time.

Reuters says that with almost 200 S&P 500 companies' reporting in so far for the quarter, about 59% have beaten earnings expectations - down from about 70% in previous quarters last year.

In the eurozone, look for a deal on Greek debt ahead of the EU leaders' summit tonight, our time.

Look for progress towards the fiscal compact announced at the December summit.

Look also for news on an expanded support (firewall) system for the zone from the meeting.

As well, data for business and consumer confidence (tonight), unemployment (Tuesday), inflation (Wednesday) and retail sales (Friday) are due for release.

Besides Shell, results are expected from Ryanair, Philips Electronics and Unilever.

In Australia, we will get the NAB business conditions and confidence survey (due tomorrow), private credit data from the Reserve Bank (to be weak), the commodity price index from the central bank on Wednesday (a fall), December quarter house prices from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday (small rise), building approvals for December (OK) and December's trade figures (a surplus of more than $1 billion).

The local December half year reporting season continues, but the week will be dominated by second quarter and first half sales figures from giant retailers Woolworths and Coles (Wesfarmers).

The duo are due to report (Woolies tomorrow, Wesfarmers on Thursday) and their figures and commentary will see the debate over the health of retailing continue, as well as more silly comments about the need for rate cuts to help stimulate retail sales.

December quarterly reports will come from companies including Beach Energy Ltd, Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd, Origin Energy Ltd, Roc Oil Ltd, Linc Energy Ltd, Independence Group, Regis Resources, Mineral Resources Ltd, Sundance Resources Ltd and Indo Mines Ltd

Meetings will include View Resources Ltd, Golden Gate Petroleum Ltd, HGL Ltd, Esperance Minerals Ltd, Cokal Ltd, Voltage IP Ltd and Indophil Resources NL.

In Asia Japan releases its latest output, employment and inflation data today and there will be a flood of financial results.

The Japanese industrial data (tomorrow) is expected to show a modest rise after a sharp fall in November.

Consumer products giants Sony and Panasonic lead the reporting wave, with both reports expected to show the impact of a weaker dollar and natural disasters, including the quake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand.

Car giant Honda is due to report, along with Toyota. Both will reveal more about the financial impact of the March 11 disasters and the flooding in Thailand.

Results from Toshiba, Sharp and Hitachi are also due. Electronics giant NEC revealed losses and 10,000 job cuts on Friday.

The likes of Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba and Sharp will show the adverse impact of the severe price competition in flat screen TVs, LCDs and laptops and associated products.

Singapore Airlines is due to report in Singapore.

Chinese manufacturing conditions indicators (PMIs) will be released on Wednesday and are likely to be remain around the 50 level, which indicates a slight improvement in activity in the sector.