Tuesday preview: US durable goods, BP in focus

Markets' focus on Tuesday will be on a slew of data across the US and Europe which will help investors determine how economic growth was holding as the second wave of the pandemic spread, even if hospitalisations and death rates remained well below their levels of last spring.

In the States, the spotlight will be on data covering durable goods orders in September which will help inform views on whether increased caution among US corporates is holding back business investment, or not.

Also due out is the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for October.

On home shores, the Confederation of British Industry will release its Distributive Trade Survey for October at 1100 GMT.

Across the Channel meanwhile, attention will be on euro area money supply (M3) figures for September, alongside a European Central Bank survey for bank lending in the third quarter.

Oil major BP will be in the spotlight on Wednesday as it updates investors on third quarter trading.

At its last quarterly presentation, the firm outlined plans to shift towards renewable energies, including a ten-fold increase in low carbon investments by 2030.

While laudable, markets' reaction was decidedly poor, with the stock falling to its lowest level since 1995.

"While this is disappointing turning around a company of BPs size and mind-set was always going to be akin to turning around a super tanker," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Capital Markets UK.

To take note of, oil majors were still captive to the need to make multi-billion pound outlays each year for capital expenditure and refining margins continued to be weak across the industry, with the third quarter unlikely to have brought much relief as regards the latter, Hewson added.

One possible glimmer of hope was that BP might be able to repeat the "strong" performance seen in its trading arm during the second quarter.

Tuesday 27 October

INTERIMS

First Derivatives, Whitbread

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Confidence (US) (14:00)

Durable Goods Orders (US) (12:30)

House Price Index (US) (13:00)

M3 Money Supply (EU) (09:00)

Q3

Plus500 Ltd (DI)

FINALS

Quiz, Renalytix Ai (Reg S)

EGMS

BBGI SICAV S.A. (DI)

AGMS

Accrol Group Holdings, Brooks Macdonald Group, City of London Inv Trust, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, MyCelx Technologies Corporation (DI), Tlou Energy Limited (DI), Trafalgar Property Group

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Contour Global , Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (10:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

K3 Capital Group