Investors’ focus over the coming week will shift back towards the UK where a slew of economic reports are due out which are expected to underscore the current high inflation levels alongside a strong jobs market.
The March employment report on Tuesday is expected to reveal that the unemployment for the three months to March was steady at 3.8%, but the claimant count for April is seen revealing another sharp drop to the tune of 38,800 applicants.
On the next day, the consumer price report may reveal another sharp rise in price pressures with the annual rate of CPI inflation rising from 7.0% in March to 9.1% for April.
Those reports will be followed by consultancy GfK’s UK consumer confidence index for May on Thursday and retail sales data for April on Friday.
Consensus is that the former will show no change from March’s reading of -38.0 and the latter another sharp drop month-on-month of 1.0% after the 1.4% drop recorded during the previous month.
Further afield, in the People’s Republic of China, Monday will bring with it a barrage of activity indicators for the month of April that will help markets gauge the impact that Covid-19 restrictions are having on the Asian giant’s economy.
In the single currency bloc, on Monday the European Commission will publish its latest economic forecasts while Friday will see the release of factory price data in Germany covering the month of April and of Eurozone consumer confidence readings for the month of May.
Stateside, the main data points over the coming week will be a report on monthly retail sales on Wednesday and Philly Fed’s factory index on Thursday.
Monday 16 May
INTERIMS
Cerillion , Diploma
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
BlackRock Latin American Inv Trust
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Trade (GER) (10:00)
Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)
ANNUAL REPORT
Instem
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Tate & Lyle
AGMS
88 Energy Limited (DI), BlackBird, Crossword Cybersecurity, DigitalBox, Ethernity Networks Ltd, Mast Energy Developments , Metal Tiger , Proteome Sciences, Proteome Sciences, Stelrad Group
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Greggs
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Mondi, Quilter
Tuesday 17 May
INTERIMS
Britvic, Imperial Brands , Renew Holdings, Sureserve Group, Watkin Jones, Zytronic
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Business Inventories (US) (15:00)
Capacity Utilisation (US) (14:15)
GDP (Preliminary) (EU) (10:00)
Industrial Production (US) (14:15)
Retail Sales (US) (13:30)
FINALS
DCC (CDI), GENinCode, Land Securities Group, Pacific Assets Trust, Smartspace Software , Velocys plc, Vodafone Group
ANNUAL REPORT
Pacific Assets Trust
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Savills
AGMS
Accesso Technology Group, AIREA, Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd. (DI), Chesnara, Equals Group , European Assets Trust , Fidelity Japan Trust, Fresnillo, GCP Asset Backed Income Fund Limited, Greggs, IQGEO Group, Kakuzi Ltd., Mobeus Income & Growth 4 Vct, Mobeus Income & Growth 4 Vct, Pittards, PPHE Hotel Group Ltd, Vitec Group, Vivo Energy , Vivo Energy
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
TI Fluid Systems
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Claimant Count Rate (07:00)
Unemployment Rate (07:00)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Cairn Homes (CDI), CPP Group, Direct Line Insurance Group, EMIS Group, Fidelity European Trust, InterContinental Hotels Group, Just Group, Savills, TP Icap Group
Wednesday 18 May
INTERIMS
Benchmark Holdings , Marston’s, Marston’s, Mitchells & Butlers
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Barratt Developments
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Building Permits (US) (13:30)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
FINALS
Assura , British Land Company, Brown (N.) Group, Burberry Group, Experian, Ninety One
AGMS
Abrdn , Alliance Pharma, Burford Capital NPV (DI), Burford Capital NPV (DI), CVC Credit Partners European Opportunities Ltd GBP, Deltex Medical Group, EKF Diagnostics Holdings , Highcroft Investment, Impax Environmental Markets, Keller Group, Merchants Trust, PensionBee Group , PYX Resources Limited NPV (DI), Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income, Schroder UK Public Private Trust , Science Group , Seplat Energy (DI), TI Fluid Systems, Vesuvius, Vistry Group
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Price Index (07:00)
Producer Price Index (07:00)
Retail Price Index (07:00)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Eurocell , Genel Energy, Harbour Energy , Morgan Sindall Group, OSB Group , Rentokil Initial
Q1
TBC Bank Group
Thursday 19 May
INTERIMS
Auction Technology Group , Euromoney Institutional Investor
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Bellway, BlackRock Greater Europe Inv Trust, Numis Corporation, Town Centre Securities, Virgin Money UK
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
M Winkworth
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust, GlaxoSmithKline, NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red, Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV, Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (USD), Unilever, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.NPV (CDI)
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
Current Account (EU) (09:00)
Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (13:30)
FINALS
Inspects Group , Investec, National Grid, QinetiQ Group, Royal Mail
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
SLF Realisation Fund Limited C Shs NPV, SLF Realisation Fund Limited NPV
SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Taylor Maritime Investments Limited NPV, Taylor Maritime Investments Limited NPV
EGMS
EFG-Hermes Holding SAE GDR (Reg S)
AGMS
Bigblu Broadband , BlackRock Latin American Inv Trust, Capital & Regional, Computacenter, Dialight, Drumz , Ebiquity, Eqtec (CDI), Essentra, Fevertree Drinks, Genuit Group, Headlam Group, Inchcape, IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES REIT P IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES ORD SHS, IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES REIT P IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES ORD SHS, K3 Business Technology Group, Light Science Technologies Holdings, Mobius Investment Trust , MusicMagpie, Network International Holdings, Network International Holdings, Next, Pharos Energy , Portmeirion Group, Property Franchise Group, Rotala, Smart Metering Systems, St James’s Place, Tyman
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Watches of Switzerland Group
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Aviva, BlackRock World Mining Trust, Convatec Group , FBD Holdings (CDI), Gresham Technologies, Lloyds Banking Group, Secure Trust Bank
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Anexo Group , Anglo Pacific Group, Bunzl, Centamin (DI), FDM Group (Holdings), Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI), Kingfisher, Lookers, Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd., Pagegroup, Public Policy Holding Company, Inc. (DI) (REG S, CAT3), Sampo OYJ, Science Group , Spectris, Tesco, Vector Capital, Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund Ltd, Xpediator
Q1
AB Ignitis Grupe GDR (Reg S)
Friday 20 May
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
AB Dynamics, Provident Financial, Seneca Growth Capital Vct B
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Primary Health Properties, Tufton Oceanic Assets Limited NPV
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)
FINALS
Wincanton
ANNUAL REPORT
Billington Holdings, Dillistone Group
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Glencore
AGMS
Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company (CDI), Georgia Capital , Keywords Studios, Keywords Studios, Public Joint Stock Company Severstal GDR (Reg S), Real Estate Investors, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Resolute Mining Limited NPV (DI)
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Close Brothers Group
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
GFK Consumer Confidence (00:01)
Retail Sales (07:00)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Breedon Group , Central Asia Metals, Howden Joinery Group, JPMorgan US Smaller Co. Inv Tst, Jupiter Fund Management , Luceco , Man Group, Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT, Melrose Industries, Morgan Advanced Materials , Personal Group Holdings, Robert Walters, Rotork, RPS Group, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Tclarke , TT Electronics, Unite Group, Vitec Group
