Tuesday preview: Employment figures, Ashtead and Cairn in the spotlight

In the run-up to Thursday's Bank of England decision on interest rates the spotlight on Tuesday will be on the latest employment data in the UK.

Economists forecast the unemployment rate in Britain held at 4.0% in July, yet like in the US, wage pressures, when ajusted for inflation, are minimal at best.

Following recent weak readings on economic activity across the Channel, the ZEW institute's gauge of economic confidence for Germany will bear watching closely too.

Stateside, the economic calendar is rather light, with just the NFIB's small business optimism gauge for August and the JOLTS labour market survey for July set for release.

Ashtead and Cairn Energy are the only FSTE 350 component set to update shareholders.

Analysts at UBS were expecting little fresh news from Ashtead's fiscal first quarter presentation in terms of guidance, given it was still early in the year, although they did expect the equipment rental supplier to report "strong" trading for the period and weakness in Sterling might lead to estimates upgrades from the consensus.

The drop in the pound's value might also feed through into dollar estimates for its guidance on capital expenditures, the Swiss broker said.

For their part, analysts at Numis had penciled-in an 18.0% year-on-year increase in the company's pre-tax profits to $283.0m.

Numis's Steve Woolf was also especially positive on the outlook for the US and Canadian markets, saying Ashtead's scale meant it would be a "clear beneficiary" of the structural shift towards outsourcing in the States.

The company was also benefiting from investment in infrastructure projects in the US, Woolf said.

Both Numis and Peel Hunt had positive things to say on the outlook for the company's margins.

For Cairn Energy on the other hand, UBS said the explorer might provide an update on its International Tribunal proceedings with the government in New Delhi.

The broker was also expecting the company to book a -$429.0m cash impairment from Indian authorities' decision to sell 40% of the 5.0% stake in Vedanta which they had seized from the firm, for net income at the half-year stage of -£357.0m.

Updates were also possible on Catcher and Kraken, as well as the recently spudded Agar/Plantain exploration well in the UK North Sea, UBS said.

Over at Numis, expectations were for interim production running at 12,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day with net cash at period-end of $26.0m.

Tuesday September 11

INTERIMS

Cairn Energy, DP Eurasia N.V. (DI) , ECSC Group, EU Supply, Harworth Group, Hilton Food Group, JD Sports Fashion, Midwich Group, Nucleus Financial Group , PureTech Health , Sanne Group, Silence Therapeutics, STM Group, Surgical Innovations Group, Team17 Group, The Simplybiz Group, TP Group, Vectura Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Hiscox Limited (DI)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Wholesales Inventories (US) (15:00)

ZEW Survey (EU) - Economic Sentiment (10:00)

ZEW Survey (GER) - Current Situation (10:00)

ZEW Survey (GER) - Economic Sentiment (10:00)

FINALS

Alumasc Group, CPL Resources, K3 Capital Group , Murgitroyd Group

AGMS

Ashtead Group, Bailey (C.H.), Bilby, Bonhill Group, Cohort, Jaywing, JPMorgan Brazil Inv Trust , Mulberry Group, Oxford Instruments, Superdry

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Claimant Count Rate (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Yu Group

Q1

Ashtead Group