Wednesday preview: UK mortgage and lending stats in focus

Wednesday is set to be a quiet day for corporate earnings, so the focus will likely be on a barrage of economic data from both home and abroad.

Up first in the UK, mortgage approvals for the month of July are due out at 0930 BST, and will be closely watched after a unexpected jump to 54,662 in June, from 50,524 in May (consensus: 49,000).

Market analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets pointed out that June's strong reading could have been down to a homebuyers' "rush to lock in fixed rates before they go even higher", so it will be interesting to see what impact the Bank of England's latest rate hike on 22 June may have had on July's figures.

UK consumer credit figures will also be out, and are expected to show a £1.3bn increase in lending in July, after a massive £1.7bn increase in June – which was the highest since April 2018.

"While unemployment remains close to historically low levels this shouldn’t be too much of a concern, however if it starts to edge higher, we could start to see slowdown in both [mortgage approvals and consumer credit], as previous interest rate increases start to bite in earnest," Hewson said.

In the US, the ADP National Employment Report is due out, along with pending home sales and mortgage applications. Also due for release will be on the second estimate of second-quarter GDP.

The first estimate, published in late-July, showed that annualised GDP growth came in at 2.4% in the three months to June, up from 2% in the first quarter and well ahead of the 1.8% consensus forecast.

Over in Europe, EU consumer confidence and economic sentiment surveys are due for release for the month of August.

Wednesday 30 August

INTERIMS

Flowtech Fluidpower

AGMs

Kinovo, WANdisco, Lindsell Train Inv Trust, Guinness Vct, Esken Limited

GMs

Vistry Group

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Calnex Solutions

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Majedie Investments, JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets Limited, Taylor Maritime Investments Limited NPV, Taylor Maritime Investments Limited NPV

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Canadian General Investments Ltd., Petrotal Corporation NPV (DI)

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Seplat Energy (DI)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mortgage Approvals (09:30)

M4 Money Supply (09:30)

Consumer Credit (09:30)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00)

Consumer Confidence (EU) (10:00)

Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00)

Industrial Confidence (EU) (10:00)

Services Sentiment (EU) (10:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Balance of Trade (US) (13:30)

Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)