Friday preview: U.S. July non-farm payrolls in focus

All eyes at the end of the week will be on the U.S. non-farm payrolls report for the month of July.

Consensus was for a slowdown in the pace of hiring from the 209,000 increase observed during the previous month to 175,000, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

However, some economists were anticipating a larger increase, such as Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics, who had penciled in a gain of 275,000.

For now at least, hiring was nevertheless still expected to slowdown appreciably in the fall.

On home shores, at 0930 BST S&P Global was to release its construction sector Purchasing Managers' Index for July.

Earlier, at 0700 BST German factory orders for June were due out.

Friday 05 August

INTERIMS

The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited, WPP

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Heavitree Brewery, Heavitree Brewery 'A' Shares, Kitwave Group, Premier Miton Group, Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

CT UK High Income Trust, CT UK High Income Trust B , Regional REIT Limited, Supermarket Income Reit, TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund Limited

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Factory Orders (GER) (07:00)

Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

GMS

East Imperial

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Bytes Technology Group

AGMS

Telecom Plus

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pets at Home Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

PMI Construction (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Argentex Group , B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI), Burberry Group, Bytes Technology Group , Intermediate Capital Group, JD Sports Fashion, JPMorgan European Discovery Trust, Mitie Group, NewRiver REIT, Norcros, Palace Capital , ProVen Growth & Income VCT, ProVen VCT, The Global Smaller Companies Trust, Value and Indexed Property Income Trust, Vodafone Group, VP, Workspace Group