This is a week for Senate votes and corporate earnings, for consideration of European debt issues and banking regulations, for reports from the Fed and reports on inflation. Following America’s new-found flirtation and the rest of the world’s obsession with what those foreigners rightly call football, the midpoint of the baseball season is marked with the All-Star game on July 13. Will corporate America participate in the home-run derby? Stay tuned.
Beginning the week, Congress returns from its July 4 recess with the Senate reconvening for what it quaintly calls a morning session at 2:00 P.M. on July 12. The chamber is expected to approve the Dodd/Frank landmark financial reform legislation on July 13, with President Obama signing the bill forthwith. The horse-trading and vote-switching appears to be over. Finally.
Also on Monday the 12th comes the first of two days of meetings in Brussels of European finance ministers, where the agenda will include bank stress tests and corporate governance.
On Tuesday, the 13th, Greece is expected to hold the first auction of sovereign debt since other Euro-zone nations cobbled together a bailout plan for that nation’s tottering finances in May. Back home, the Census Bureau releases the U.S. trade deficit numbers for May, along with the Federal budget deficit for June.