Tuesday's Events.: Bernanke & Lacker Speak, U.S. Pending Home Sales

High-profile speakers will take centre stage on Tuesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is set to speak in Arlington, Virginia at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Mortgage Lending for Low- and Moderate Income Households forum. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker is also slated to speak to the National Economists Club in Washington, D.C. on the U.S. economic outlook.

In terms of data, U.S. pending home sales for May are expected to show a 2.5% decrease, down from a previous 6.3% increase.

Economists are expecting pending home sales to fall in May. "In April, pending home sales rose 6.3% and the year-over-year trend in these sales pointed to some slowing in the pace of home sales declines. It will be interesting to see if the May pending home sales data suggest a continuation of this trend," wrote economists from RDQ.

Economists from BBVA USA expect a slightly smaller drop than the consensus figure. "In line with the ongoing adjustment in the housing sector, we expect a 2.2% decline in May's pending home sales, anticipating a disappointing report of existing home sales in June. Housing demand keeps falling despite lower mortgage rates; and given the substantial levels of inventories, it will decline further through the rest of the year," wrote BBVA.

The ABC consumer comfort index will indicate if the U.S. consumer confidence is still in the doldrums. The index has been below a reading of 50 for the past seven weeks and looks to be maintaining the trend this week.

The ICSC Chain store sales and Redbook retail performed surprisingly well last week. This week's data will show if they maintained the momentum as rebate checks made their way into retailers' registers.

All Times in EDT

7:45 US ICSC Chain Store Sales W/E July 5 (Y/Y) Prior: +2.2%

8:00 US Bernanke Speaks at FDIC Forum on Financial Regulation

8:55 US Redbook Retail Sales W/E July 5 (Y/Y) Prior: +2.9%

10:00 US Pending Home Sales (M/M) May Exp:-2.5% Prior: +6.3%

10:00 US Metropolitan Area and Employment and Unemployment for May

10:00 US Wholesale Inventories May Exp: +0.7% Prior: +1.3%

10:30 CA Bank of Canada Regular T-Bill Auction

11:15 CA Bank of Canada Bond Repurchase Program

11:30 US Tsy to Sell USD$6 billion in 7 Day Cash Management Bills

12:30 US Richmond Fed's Lacker Speaks on Economic Outlook in Washington

13:00 US Tsy to Sell USD$28 Billion in 4-Week Bills

15:00 US Consumer Credit May Exp: +$7.3B Prior: +$8.9B

15:00 US Paulson Speaks at FDIC in Virginia on Mortgage Lending

17:00 US ABC Consumer Confidence W/E 6-July Prior: -43

8-July US DOE Short-Term Crude Outlook July Prior: +126K

8-July US DOE Short-Term Ht Oil Outlook July Prior: +4.25K

8-July US DOE Short-Term Diesel Outlook July Prior: +4.32K

8-July US DOE Short-Term Mogas Outlook July Prior: +3.92K

8-July US DOE Short-Term Natural Gas Outlook July

By Steve Stecyk and edited by Cristina Markham