The video clips below provide a handy summary of the reports expected on the economic, financial and corporate front around the globe during the week ahead.

US: Retailers, health care

There still are 60 S&P companies left to report earnings, but markets will kick off against a backdrop of weaker jobs and mixed data. Major retail names will release results, and there’s also key legislation from Capitol Hill.

Europe: Barclays, Vodafone, A-B InBev

As telecom operators report results, Spain will be one of the main markets investors focus on. Barclays and A-B InBev also will report third-quarter results.

Asia: Economic data front and center

Chinese economic data will be front and center in Asia. Beijing will report inflation and trade

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Asian stocks recorded hefty gains on Thursday, including a 4% rally in Tokyo's Nikkei as Japan unveiled a big stimulus package aimed toward stimulating economic growth.  The Nikkei 225 stock average jumped 321.05 points or 3.74% to 8,916.06, after the government announced a $154 billion economic stimulus package and data showed an unexpected increase in the country's machinery orders. The Bank of Korea, which kept the rates unchanged at 2%, said it was keeping the option of cutting rates open. The comments sent benchmark Kospi up 4.3% to 1316.35, a six-month closing peak.  Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 2.3%.

U.S. stocks showed resilience yesterday as investors took heart from reports the Treasury will allow some troubled insurers access to remaining funds under the TARP program.  Today's post of retailers' March same-store-sales figures will also be closely watched for indications of consumer spending trends.

Premarket futures improved

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The Bank of Korea reported that total household debt --- total consumer debt less mortgages --- has reacheda title=debt target=_blank href=http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2898532 $29, 070/a. brbrThat large debt load is going to make it hard for consumer spending to rebound.

The Bank of Korea slashed interest rates by 75 basis points, the most ever, in an attempt to restore confidence yesterday. 

South Korea's central bank kept its interest-rate policy unchanged for a seventh month today, citing increasing inflation pressures and the deteriorating global economic outlook. Governor Lee Seong Tae set the seven-day repurchase rate at 5 percent. The yield on South Korea's five-year government bond rose 4 basis points to 5.09 percent, reversing an earlier decline. The won traded at 957.50 per dollar at close of onshore trading in Seoul, little changed from before the decision and posting its biggest weekly loss in seven months. The main Kospi index of shares slumped 2 percent to 1,663.97. Consumer prices rose 3.9 percent in January from a year earlier, the fastest pace in more than three years. Inflation slowed to 3.6 percent in February. The Bank of Korea in December forecast consumer prices to rise 3.3 percent this year. Export ...

South Korea experienced its biggest monthly current account shortfall in almost 11 years in January and may have to enlarge its deficit forecast for the whole year, the central bank said on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted current account deficit widened to a provisional $2.03bn in January, the biggest since a $2.21bn loss in February 1997, from a revised $1.07bn deficit in December 2007, the Bank of Korea data showed. The deficit, which has been swollen by the rising cost of commodities imports just as exports started to slow, means foreign trade will contribute less than before to the economy at a time when the economic outlook is already turning from bad to worse. In seperately released data we learnt today that companies were growing more worried about the immediate future, with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s sentiment ...

South Korea's consumer confidence declined from a five-year high, signaling spending may slow and crimp growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The sentiment index fell to 106 in the fourth quarter, the lowest in three quarters, from 112, the Bank of Korea said today in a report in Seoul. A reading higher than 100 indicates optimists outnumber pessimists. The benchmark Kospi index of stocks has fallen 8 percent from a Nov. 1 record of 2085.45 on concern U.S. subprime-related losses will slow the global economy. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. this month cut its 2008 growth forecast for South Korea to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent. The yield on a five-year government bond rose 2 basis points to 5.87 percent at 3:00 p.m. in Seoul and the won gained 0.1 percent to 939.65 versus the dollar. The Kospi climbed 2.2 percent. Confidence fell as ...

From Bloomberg this morning:South Korean Finance Minister Kwon Okyu said the nation's exporters will cope with the won's surge against the dollar, helping economic growth accelerate next year.The won reached a decade-high this week and companies such as Hyundai Motor Co. say it will climb further, forcing them to cut costs to boost earnings. Kwon, who expects the won's rally to run out of steam, said rising shipments and a pickup in domestic demand mean the economy will grow 4.8 percent in 2007 and 5 percent next year.``Even with global dollar weaknesses, Korean exports will continue their robust growth,'' Kwon, 55, said in an Oct. 29 interview in Gwacheon, near Seoul. ``Our competitiveness nowadays doesn't depend on price competition, rather it depends on the quality, technology and so on,'' he said.Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's biggest exporter, this year surpassed Motorola ...

From Bloomberg today:South Korea's Economy Expands 1.8 Percent on Exports South Korea's economy expanded at the fastest pace in almost four years in the second quarter, helped by rising exports, according to revised figures released today.The economy grew 1.8 percent, the quickest since the fourth quarter of 2003 and more than the initial estimate of 1.7 percent, the Bank of Korea said in Seoul. From a year ago, the expansion was 5 percent, up from July's estimate of 4.9 percent.Rising overseas demand helped the country sustain the longest stretch of growth in a decade. Overseas shipments account for two-fifths of gross domestic product and orders from South Korea's biggest market, China, have more than compensated for a slowdown in the U.S.``Growth is likely to remain resilient amid healthy exports and a pickup in domestic demand,'' Go You Sun, ...

From Bloomberg today:South Korean Factory Output Jumps on Chips, Phones South Korea's industrial production rose seven times faster than expected in July as companies increased output of semiconductors and mobile phones.Manufacturing grew 2.1 percent from June, when it gained 1.9 percent, the statistics office said today in Gwacheon, South Korea. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 economists was for a 0.3 percent increase.An increase in output may help to protect Asia's third- largest economy from a slowdown in consumer spending after the benchmark stock index fell from a record and the central bank raised interest rates twice in two months. Overseas shipments, which account for about 40 percent of the $887 billion economy, rose at the fastest pace in six months in July.``Upbeat export momentum will keep the economy chugging along,'' said Kim Jae Eun, ...