View our top six stories to look out for this week (28 August-1 September), plus our key company earnings schedule.
Jackson Hole & US jobs data amid government uncertainty
Michael Hewson looks ahead to the latest US data, specifically non-farm payrolls and US Q2 GDP, as well as the prospect of a US government shutdown.
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Can Best Buy continue its winning streak?
Tuesday: The US retail sector has experienced significant headwinds over the past few years, a victim of overcapacity and intense competition. However, Best Buy's share price has performed well, nearing all-time highs. Its focus on electronic goods and services is serving its customers well, while management stay focused on low costs. Will this week's Q2 numbers live up to the decent performance in Q1?
Focus on prices ahead of US Q2 GDP
Wednesday: This week's second estimate of the Q2 GDP figure will give us an updated look at the US economy, ahead of the next Federal Reserve rate meeting in September. Rather than focusing on the headline number, attention will be on the prices component of the data, where wages and prices have continued to be lacklustre.
Betting giant to report half-year results
Thursday: At its last trading update Ladbrokes Coral posted a 22% rise in profit, with revenue also improving. However, the share price has performed poorly since then, largely due to uncertainty over a government crackdown on fixed-odds betting terminals. The latest election result could impact these, and possibly deprive the betting industry of a lucrative revenue earner.
Could Palo Alto be lacking security?
Thursday: The 'WannaCry' cyber-attack earlier this year should have helped Palo Alto Networks' firewall solutions, and for a while its share price did rise as profit and revenue increased in Q3. But since 2016, the share price has been trending downwards, and despite the improvements in Q3, they have continued to struggle. Will this week's Q4 results continue the improvement?
Manufacturing PMIs to provide snapshot of the sector
Friday: August is often a quiet month for manufacturing and some European data has suggested a slowdown, although nothing to be too concerned about. This week's manufacturing PMIs (UK, Europe & US) are likely to allude to a fairly robust sector in those regions, though we could see some decline across the board from China, Japan, Europe and the US.
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Index dividend schedule
If you trade indices, dividend payments from an index's constituent shares can result in either a credit or debit to your account.
View this week's indices dividend drop points table
Selected UK & US company earnings schedule
Monday 28 August Results
No major US or UK companies reporting
Tuesday 29 August Results
Best Buy (US) Q2
Wednesday 30 August Results
Petrofac (UK) Half-year
Workday (US) Q2
Thursday 31 August Results
Dollar General (US) Q2
Ladbrokes Coral Group (UK) Half-year
Palo Alto Networks (US) Q4
Friday 1 September Results
No major US or UK companies reporting
Company announcements are subject to change. All the events listed above were correct at the time of writing.
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