Next week will be a quiet one for Canadian economic data, but a heavy slate of U.S. releases and the start of corporate earnings season should more than make up the difference.

After markets closed on Friday, Canada Life said it will formally respond on Monday to an unsolicited $6.1 billion bid from Manulife Financial.

The only data out in Canada next week is November motor vehicle sales on Wednesday, and trade data on Friday. “A very light week for data won’t shed any further light on the following week’s Bank of Canada decision,” predicts CIBC World Markets. “Yet another robust figure for the trade surplus should be supportive for the Canadian dollar, but it’s shown little tendency to react much to this report.”

BMO Nesbitt Burns forecasts a rise in natural gas receipts, which is expected to mask weakness elsewhere, and push exports up 0.5%, lifting the trade surplus to $5.2 billion, above its monthly average of $4.6 billion in the first ten months of the year.

The Canadian economic slate may be sparse, but RBC Financial Group economists say that there are some important economic releases in the U.S. next week, including December retail sales on Tuesday, the Producer Price Index and Beige Book on Wednesday, the Consumer Price Index and the Philly Fed Index on Thursday, and January’s preliminary consumer sentiment report, along with industrial production and trade data, on Friday.

CIBC says, “Headline retail sales will get a huge lift from autos, but the non-autos figure will be very uninspiring. Both the Beige Book, and the industrial production data, will capture the same pick-up in factory activity that the ISM and factory hours worked registered in December. But that improvement reflects light inventories, and could falter again if demand remains soft, a warning of which we might see in the January consumer confidence readings. A deterioration in the trade balance will capture a recovery in imports from bottlenecks associated with the earlier port strike.”

“As the jobless recovery lumbers forward in the U.S., economic indicators will stay on the mixed side,” comments Nesbitt. “Next week, for example, we look for retail sales to be solid for December, led by vehicle sales, but also registering a decent gain in the non-auto component. Other signs of healing will likely be apparent in the details of the PPI report and the consumer confidence numbers. Tight inventory supplies are boosting prices of commodities and partly finished goods. And confidence seems to be firming after a year-end swoon.” Nesbitt also says that it would be very good news if the CPI report comes in below the 0.2% reading expected. “However, that does not look like the best bet. Inflation may be bottoming in the U.S.”

While there will be tons of U.S. economic data out, and the usual geopolitical intrigue will no doubt sway the markets, real trading wonks are looking forward to the start of earnings season next week, too.

“Earnings season gets underway in earnest with seven Dow members scheduled to report,” says CIBC. “But as much focus might fall on confessions from companies not due to formally announce until later in the month.”

Among those that are scheduled to report, Cogeco Inc. confesses on Monday, it’s Shaw Communications on Wednesday, and tech heavyweights IBM and Microsoft on Thursday. Sears Canada Inc. will also report on Thursday.