Wednesday preview: US jobs data, Direct Line Group in the spotlight

Market focus on Wednesday will shift back towards the US jobs market.

Consultancy ADP will publish its tally private sector payrolls ahead of the monthly non-farm payrolls report due out at the end of the week, which is expected to reveal a historic near 20.0m pace of job destruction.

On home shores, IHS Markit will publish its construction sector Purchasing Managers' Index for April, which is expected to plummet from the March reading of 39.3 to 21.0 for April.

Factory orders data in Germany covering March are also expected to make for a sobering reading, with the pace of decline seen accelerating from a 1.4% fall in February to -10% in March.

Direct Line Group is among the main corporates due to update investors on Wednesday.

In particular, analysts at UBS expect investors to focus on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They forecast £50m in total gross travel claims, or £30m net, partially offset at least by reduced frequency in motor.

Furthermore, investment income was expected to be zero on the back of unrealised losses.

Nevertheless, the impact on the commercial side was expected to be "limited".

As well, as a result of the "sharp" reduction in claim frequency starting from March, underlying profitability was expected to be strong.

For Motor, the Swiss broker was anticipating growth of 0.5%, of 2.6% at Home, and 3% in Rescue and at Commercial.

Policy count meanwhile was seen 0.7% higher.