Friday preview: US non-farm payrolls, IAG in focus

The Department of Labor is expected to announce a 425,000 person increase in non-farm payrolls alongside a four tenths of a percentage point increase in average hourly earnings.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, is slightly ahead of consensus, anticipating a 525,000 person gain.

The economist said that the decline in Covid-19 cases only began to elicit a response in employment towards mid-October, too late for the October survey, although he was expecting payroll growth to pick up towards about a 1.0m-plus per month pace in November.

"Still, even a 525K headline print will come as a disappointment to the Fed and the administration," Shepherdson added in a research note sent to clients.

"As Chair Powell noted on Wednesday, policymakers were hoping to see clear evidence of a substantial rebound in participation by now. But the continued sluggishness in payroll growth, relative to expectations during the summer, is a reflection of the damage done by the Delta Covid wave, which will prove temporary."

For IAG's third quarter, UBS analyst Jarrod Castle has penciled-in revenues of £2.55bn for net income of -£579m.

Nevertheless, earnings before interest and taxes were seen improving materially, from -£1.3bn one year before to -£587m.

Investors should watch the company's cash burn, capacity additions during the quarter, forward winter bookings and pricing, impact of rising fuel on margin and the hedge ratio, the analyst said.

Friday 05 November

INTERIMS

Kainos Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Andrews Sykes Group, Bank of Georgia Group, Bodycote, JPMorgan Russian Securities, Judges Scientific, M. P. Evans Group, Medica Group , Personal Group Holdings, STV Group, TP Icap Group , Travis Perkins, Weir Group

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

BMO UK High Income Trust , BMO UK High Income Trust B Shares

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Credit (US) (19:00)

Industrial Production (GER) (07:00)

Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (12:30)

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

Unemployment Rate (US) (12:30)

Q3

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI)

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Alfa Financial Software Holdings , Travis Perkins

EGMS

Hochschild Mining

AGMS

Go-Ahead Group

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Beazley

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Halifax House Price Index (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Brooks Macdonald Group