Thursday preview: Philly Fed, Royal Mail in the spotlight

The key data release on Thursday was expected to be the Philly Fed´s regional manufacturing index, which economists believed would reveal a small improvement in activity levels for the month of November.

As ever, investors would likely also be keeping close tabs on the latest weekly unemployment claims figures.

The economic calendar for Thursday on the other hand was light across the Channel, although European Central Bank chief economist, Philip Lane, was scheduled to speak at a conference on transatlantic economic policy responses to the pandemic, at 1430 GMT.

Further afield, in Asia, rate-setters in the Philippines and Indonesia were due to meet to decide on policy.

For Royal Mail's interims, UBS´s Cristian Nedelcu said that investors' focus would be on the volumes and price mix achieved by the company.

He anticipated low single-digit year-on-year growth in UK domestic parcels during September and October, albeit thanks to "easy" comparables, a tailwind that would weaken in the back half of the year.

Price/mix was seen at up by 3.6% in July/August with September seen at a similar level.

Worth noting, Nedelcu was also expecting that delays and bottlenecks would reduce annual productivity improvements to £80m, instead of the £100m that the firm had guided towards.

The company compiled consensus was for group adjusted operating profits of £399m.

Looking out to the full-year, Nedelcu had penciled-in group adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of £807m, versus consensus on £825m.

During the following year, consensus stood at £824m, against UBS on £757m.

Thursday 18 November

INTERIMS

Biffa, Charles Stanley Group, Finncap Group , Halma, Investec, Jet2, Mitie Group, Redcentric, Royal Mail

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI), Bunzl, Bytes Technology Group , Cake Box Holdings, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (DI), DCC (CDI), ProVen Growth & Income VCT, ProVen VCT, Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, Volex, Worldwide Healthcare Trust, Young & Co's Brewery 'A' Shares, Young & Co's Brewery (Non-Voting)

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

M Winkworth

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

GlaxoSmithKline, NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited Red, Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV, Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (USD), Raven Property Group Limited Cum Red Pref, Regional REIT Limited

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (13:30)

Q3

Atalaya Mining, EFG-Hermes Holding SAE GDR (Reg S), MHP SE GDR (Reg S), TBC Bank Group

GMS

President Energy

FINALS

Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V), Euromoney Institutional Investor, Grainger

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

River and Mercantile Group

AGMS

Avingtrans, Close Brothers Group, Eagle Eye Solutions Group, Finsbury Food Group, IronRidge Resources Limited (DI), Litigation Capital Management Limited (DI), Maestrano Group, Thorpe (F.W.), Wetherspoon (J.D.)

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Close Brothers Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Asia Dragon Trust , BlackRock Greater Europe Inv Trust, CVS Group, Fonix Mobile , Genus, K3 Capital Group , Secure Income Reit , Tristel, Volution Group