Thursday preview: Bank of England, Rolls Royce in the spotlight

by | Aug 2, 2023

(Sharecast News) – Investors’ focus on Thursday would be on the Bank of England.

Bank was scheduled to announce its latest policy decision at noon, but analysts were divided on whether it would hike rates by 25 or 50 basis points.

Against that backdrop, at 1330 BST financial markets’ attention would turn towards the latest weekly unemployment figures in the U.S., followed by the Institute for Supply Management’s July services sector Purchasing Managers’ Index at 1500 BST.

Final readings for S&P Global’s services PMIs for the euro area and the UK covering that same month were also scheduled for release, at 0900 BST and 0930 BST, respectively.

On the corporate side of things, it was Rolls Royce that would be in the spotlight, as the engineer published its second quarter earnings.

During the previous week, the company had raised its full-year guidance.

Underlying profits were seen coming in at £1.2-1.4bn and free cash flow at £0.9-1.1bn.

For the half, underlying profit was pegged at £600-680m thanks to the civil aviation and defence markets, which had bolstered its underlying profits.

“With the shares now back at pre-Covid levels, further progress is now likely to be predicated on progress on some its new business areas, like Small Modular reactor technology, which is currently operating at a loss, and is still in its infancy,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Stateside, all eyes would be on Amazon and Apple, which were due to report their latest quarterly earnings after the close of trading in New York.

Thursday 03 August

INTERIMS

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (DI), Helios Towers , Helios Towers , Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES REIT P IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES ORD SHS, London Stock Exchange Group, Mears Group, Morgan Sindall Group, Quilter, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Serco Group, Shaftesbury Capital, Shaftesbury Capital, Smith & Nephew, Tritax Big Box Reit

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

WH Smith

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, Aptitude Software Group , Blackrock Throgmorton Trust, Foxtons Group , Inchcape, Jupiter Fund Management , Lloyds Banking Group, Mobico Group, Moneysupermarket.com Group, Nichols, Rathbones Group, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Relx plc, Rentokil Initial, RTC Group, Tyman, Vesuvius

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Brunner Inv Trust, Picton Property Income Ltd, Unilever

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Factory Orders (US) (15:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)

ISM Services (US) (15:00)

PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)

PMI Composite (GER) (08:55)

PMI Composite (US) (14:45)

PMI Services (EU) (09:00)

PMI Services (GER) (08:55)

PMI Services (US) (14:45)

Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

Q2

Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Smith & Nephew

FINALS

Omega Diagnostics Group, Omega Diagnostics Group

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Foresight VCT, Jupiter Fund Management , Latham (James)

EGMS

Landore Resources Limited NPV

AGMS

Caffyns, Distil, Edenville Energy , Investec, Ukrproduct Group Ltd

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Next, Smith & Nephew

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

BoE Interest Rate Decision (12:00)

PMI Composite (09:30)

PMI Services (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Caledonia Investments, GB Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

BT Group, CML Microsystems, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Latham (James), Oxford Instruments, Triple Point Venture Vct

Q1

Wizz Air Holdings

Related articles

Thursday preview: BoE, US data in the spotlight

Thursday preview: BoE, US data in the spotlight

(Sharecast News) - All eyes on Thursday would be on the Bank of England's possibly last interest rate hike for the current tightening cycle. Consensus was that at 1200 BST Bank would announce a 25 basis point hike in Bank Rate to 5.50% and leave the door open to...

Wednesday preview: Fed rate decision, UK CPI in focus

Wednesday preview: Fed rate decision, UK CPI in focus

(Sharecast News) - All eyes in the middle of the week will be on the Federal Reserve, as rate-setters in Washington D.C. wrap up their two-day monetary policy meeting. Consensus is for no change in the target range for the Fed funds rate, which currently stands at...

Latest Articles

Shore Capital hails impressive first half from JD Sports

Shore Capital hails impressive first half from JD Sports

(Sharecast News) - Shares in JD Sports Fashion surged on Thursday morning after the sportswear retailer beat forecasts with its interim results, with broker Shore Capital hailing "significant progress" as it reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock. Pre-tax profit...

Time for Japan to act (II): State Street Global Markets

Time for Japan to act (II): State Street Global Markets

Written by Michael Metcalfe, Head of Macro Strategy, State Street Global Markets  Writing ahead of the September BoJ gathering in 2022, we argued in Time for Japan to act (first edition!) that the authorities should begin monetary tightening both through moving the...

FOMC maintains hawkish stance – Fidelity International comments

FOMC maintains hawkish stance – Fidelity International comments

Commenting on this yesterday's decision by the FOMC to hold interest rates, Salman Ahmed, Global Head of Macro & Strategic Asset at Fidelity International said: “As expected, the FOMC decided to not raise rates at its September meeting and retained the hawkish...

Europe open: Shares slide on hawkish Fed as eyes turn to BoE

Europe open: Shares slide on hawkish Fed as eyes turn to BoE

(Sharecast News) - European stocks opened in the red on Thursday after hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve on future rate rises dampened sentiment and investors turned their attention to the Bank of England's own policy meeting. The pan-European Stoxx 600...

Capita signs two new contracts worth £565m

Capita signs two new contracts worth £565m

(Sharecast News) - Outsourcing group Capita said it has signed two new contracts with the UK and Northern Ireland governments worth a combined £565m. Four months after Capita was selected as the preferred bidder, the group has now confirmed it has sealed the deal to...

Rise in UK borrowing limits Hunt’s scope for tax cuts

Rise in UK borrowing limits Hunt’s scope for tax cuts

(Sharecast News) - Britain's budget deficit in August was slightly higher than expected, according to official data published on Thursday, meaning Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt will have less scope for tax cuts ahead of the General Election. Public sector net borrowing...

Join our mailing list

Subscribe to our mailing list to receive regular updates!

No Fields Found.
x