View our top six events to look out for this week (31 July-4 August), plus our key company earnings schedule.
Non-farm payrolls, BoE and key earnings preview video
Our Chief Market Analyst Michael Hewson looks ahead to this week’s key earnings announcements, the Bank of England and the US employment report for July. He also looks at the key levels for the Germany 30, EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
Watch the video preview >
Will Apple’s Q3 results bear fruit for shareholders?
Tuesday: In its last trading update, Apple reported a surprise decline in iPhone sales to around 50m units. Despite this, revenues rose as consumers bought the more expensive iPhone 7 Plus, and App Store and music sales increased. On the downside, Apple does appear to be losing out in the battle for video viewers as Netflix and Amazon battle for market share. Will Apple TV be the company’s Achilles heel?
BP’s half-year results bound to fate of oil
Tuesday: At the beginning of this year, BP’s profit comfortably beat expectations, helped by a recovery in the oil price. Oil’s inability to sustain those gains is likely to be a concern, given BP’s high break-even price of close to $60 a barrel. While management have cut operating costs sharply over the years, net debt still remains a little too high for comfort, at $34.5bn.
RBA rate meeting unlikely to be a nail-biter
Tuesday: The recent weakness in the US dollar (USD) – and an improvement in the latest China data – has resulted in the Australian dollar (AUD) making two-year highs. It’s therefore unlikely that we will see any move on policy from the Reserve Bank of Australia, despite concerns that AUD is too high.
Bank of England unveil rate decision & inflation report
Thursday: At the last meeting, three central bank policymakers surprised the markets by voting to raise rates. While one of them has since left the monetary policy committee, it’s likely that at least two will vote to raise rates again, while the direction of chief economist Andrew Haldane’s vote is uncertain. The inflation report is likely to offer important clues on inflation and interest-rate policy towards the end of 2017.
Can RBS maintain its return to profitability?
Friday: The perennial ball and chain around the UK taxpayer reported a quarterly profit earlier this year for the first time since Q3 2015. Will this week’s half-year update from RBS replicate that trend and spark expectations for a first annual profit since the bank was bailed out? It’s probably unlikely, as a resolution with the US Department of Justice remains outstanding, while the bank also settled with the Federal Housing Finance Agency for £3.6bn earlier this year in relation to mis-sold mortgages, which means additional contingencies could be set aside.
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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 31 July Results
HSBC (UK) Half-year
Pandora Media (US) Q2
US Silica Holdings (US) Q2
Tuesday 1 August Results
Apple (US) Q3
Archer-Daniels-Midland (US) Q2
BP (UK) Half-year
Centrica (UK) Half-year
CME Group (US) Q2
Coherent (US) Q3
Devon Energy (US) Q2
EOG Resources (US) Q2
FMC (US) Q2
Herbalife (US) Q2
Illumina (US) Q2
Mosaic (US) Q2
ONEOK (US) Q2
Pfizer (US) Q2
Pioneer Natural Resources (US) Q2
Rolls-Royce (UK) Half-year
Sprint (US) Q1
SunPower (US) Q2
Under Armour (US) Q2
Viper Energy Partners (US) Q2
Wednesday 2 August Results
3D Systems (US) Q2
American International Group (US) Q2
Apollo Global Management (US) Q2
Avista (US) Q2
BAE Systems (UK) Half-year
Citrix Systems (US) Q2
Equinix (US) Q2
General Cable (US) Q2
GGP (US) Q2
Marathon Oil (US) Q2
MetLife (US) Q2
Molson Coors (US) Q2
Novae Group (UK) Half-year
Occidental Petroleum (US) Q2
Rice Energy (US) Q2
Rio Tinto (UK) Half-year
Square (US) Q2
Standard Chartered (UK) Half-year
Symantec (US) Q1
Tesla (US) Q2
Vulcan Materials (US) Q2
Zynga (US) Q2
Thursday 3 August Results
Acacia Communications (US) Q2
Allergan (US) Q2
AMC Networks (US) Q2
Apache Corp (US) Q2
Becton Dickinson (US) Q3
Caesars Entertainment (US) Q2
Chesapeake Energy (US) Q2
ConvaTec (UK) Q2
Dynegy (US) Q2
Global Payments (US) Q2
GrubHub (US) Q2
HSN (US) Q2
Intercontinental Exchange (US) Q2
Kellogg (US) Q2
Kraft Heinz (US) Q2
NRG Energy (US) Q2
Radius Health (US) Q2
Southwestern Energy (US) Q2
TherapeuticsMD (US) Q2
Viacom (US) Q3
Yelp (US) Q2
Yum Brands (US) Q2
Friday 4 August Results
Cincinnati Bell (US) Q2
Newell Brands (US) Q2
Pearson (UK) Half-year
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK) Half-year
Vistra Energy (US) Q2
Company announcements are subject to change. All the events listed above were correct at the time of writing.
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