Friday preview: US non-farm payrolls, LSE Group in focus

All eyes at the end of the week will again turn to the US and the release of the monthly non-farm payrolls report, this time for July.

Economists at Barclays Research are anticipating a further modest slowdown in the pace of hiring to 275,000, versus 372,000 during the prior month (consensus: 250,000).

Average hourly earnings meanwhile are seen up by 0.3% on the month while the unemployment rate is forecast to remain at 3.6%.

"We anticipate some early signs of easing tightness in labor markets, reflecting the historical tendency of employment to lag from developments in spending data," Barclays said in a research report sent to clients.

"At this point, we expect the slowing to be fairly moderate, with nonfarm payroll gains stepping down from 372k in June to 275k in July. As in prior months, this should continue to generate income that helps to offset erosion in purchasing power from high inflation [...]."

In the UK meanwhile, overnight the Recruitment and Employment Confederation will release its permanent staff placements and salaries indices for July.

Further afield, in India, rate-setters will meet to decide on monetary policy.

For the LSE Group's second half results, UBS analyst Michael Werner expects the focus to be on the stock exchange operators revenue growth at constant exchange rates over the second quarter, especially in its Data Analytics arm, the main source of its recurring sales.

His estimates were calling for total revenue growth of 5.6% year-on-year, with those in Capital Markets seen up by 16%, in Post Trade by 6.3% and in Data Analytics by 2.8%.

He also believed that financial markets were pricing in the consensus earnings outlook, such that any upwards revision to guidance, particularly of it were driven by the Data and Analytics arm, would have a positive impact on the share price.

Consensus was for a 7% jump in LSE's net revenues excluding recoveries, for a 3% decline in earnings per share to 149.6p.

Friday 5 August

FINALS

Hargreaves Lansdown

INTERIMS

WPP, FBD Holdings (CDI)

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pets at Home Group

AGMs

JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets Limited, Verditek, Trian Investors 1 Limited NPV, Petrel Resources (CDI)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Aveva Group, Palace Capital, Intermediate Capital Group, Telecom Plus, JD Sports Fashion, Burberry Group, Mitie Group, Wincanton, ProVen VCT, Vodafone Group, Pittards, B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI), Ninety One, VP, ProVen Growth & Income VCT, Tate & Lyle, Workspace Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund, Twentyfour Income Fund Limited Ord Red, JPMorgan Multi-Asset Growth & Income, North American Income Trust (The), Amedeo Air Four Plus Limited Red Ord NPV, Kitwave Group, CC Japan Income & Growth Trust, Liontrust Asset Management, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust, Micro Focus International, Premier Miton Group, I3 Energy

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

ProVen VCT, ProVen Growth & Income VCT, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

CT UK High Income Trust, CT UK High Income Trust B

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Industrial Production (GER) (07:00)

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

Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)

Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)