The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that as investors try to gauge the extent of the economic slowdown, a big clue is set to arrive next week when the Big Six banks start to report their latest quarterly financial results. The Globe's David Berman writes that Bank of Nova Scotia will kick off the banks' fiscal third-quarter earnings season on Aug. 23, followed by Royal Bank and National Bank on Aug. 24. TD Bank and CIBC report their results on Aug. 25. Bank of Montreal will conclude the flurry of results from the Big Six on Aug. 30. Analysts are not expecting anything dramatic. Loan growth will continue at a strong clip, while provisions for credit losses remain low. However, profit growth will falter from weaker capital markets activity and wealth management. Scott Chan, analyst at Canaccord Genuity, expects bank profits will rise by just 1 per cent from the third quarter of last year. This is far from a ho-hum reporting season that investors can ignore, because it arrives when rising interest rates are dampening economic expectations and raising concerns about the financial health of Canadian borrowers. Bank stocks are already reflecting some concerns, with prices down 14 per cent since November.