What to Expect from the Week Ahead

Interest rate decisions from the BoE and the ECB are accompanied by earnings from a raft of financials this week

Holly Cook | 01-08-10 | E-mail Article

The first week of August sees a flurry of earnings results from the British financial sector, with insurers Aviva, Legal & General, Old Mutual and RSA Insurance Group all due to announce quarterly or interim numbers, while each of the FTSE 100-listed banks—Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered—will also unveil results.

Among economic events scheduled this week, the highlight is set to be Thursday’s interest rate decision from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. Following the surprise news that the UK economy grew at a faster-than-forecast rate of 1.1% in the second quarter of 2010, BoE Governor Mervyn King moved to calm talk that a rate rise could be in store by underlining that one quarter’s strong growth does not necessarily mean the economy is ready to have its fiscal stimulus removed. As such, it is widely expected that no rate hike will come this month, but the minutes from the MPC meeting will be pored over for insights into the rate hike schedule once it comes.

Monday
HSBC kicks off the week’s earnings releases with its interims on Monday. The bank is expected to confirm that its strong start to the year continued into the second quarter—a message that is expected to be echoed by other banks later in the week.

On the data front, the UK, Germany and the EU will all announce their purchasing managers’ index for the manufacturing sector, while the US is due to follow with its own ISM manufacturing report and the latest numbers on construction spending.

Tuesday
Broadcaster ITV, mining conglomerate Xstrata and housebuilder Taylor Wimpey are among those reporting results on Tuesday, alongside data on UK, Germany and EU PMI construction, German retail sales, and a wealth of data reports from the US covering consumer confidence, business inventories, pending home sales and personal spending.

Wednesday
Returning to financials, Legal & General’s results announcement midweek will be closely watched for comments on the insurance firm’s dividend plans and outlook. Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered will pick up where HSBC left off with their latest earnings news, Shire will carry the torch for the pharmaceuticals industry with its own trading update, British Land will update the market on activity in the commercial real estate industry and Next’s trading update will provide insights into British consumption.

BG Group, Reckitt Benckiser and Reed Elsevier are among those companies to trade ex-dividend on Wednesday and likely, therefore, to see their shares under pressure. PMI services reports are due from the UK, Germany and the EU, while the US will announce ISM non-manufacturing data and ISM services.

Thursday
A busy day for earnings news on Thursday, with Aviva, Barclays, Rio Tinto, Schroders, Smith & Nephew and Unilever all due to unveil their latest numbers, to name but a few. The Halifax UK house price index in the UK, BoE interest rate decision and European Central bank rate decision will be followed by US labour market data in the form of continuing claims for jobless benefits.

Friday
Bringing the week to a close, more earnings news from insurer Old Mutual and part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland are scheduled for Friday. The latter is expected to announce it is back in the black for the first time in two years. The last of the week’s economic data comes from Germany and the UK in the form of industrial production reports and the US in the form of monthly non-farm payrolls and an updated unemployment rate.

Holly Cook is Site Editor of Morningstar.co.uk and Hemscott.com. She would like to hear from you but cannot give financial advice. You can contact the author via this feedback form.
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