Thursday preview: ECB, BoE's Carney in focus

For quite some time now, policymakers in Frankfurt had been expected to sound a dovish note given the multiple storm clouds that had been massing on the horizon.

But now, some analysts were expecting even greater dovishness following the recent escalation in the US-China trade spat and other trade frictions elsewhere in the world.

Against that backdrop, at 0930 BST Bank of England Governor Mark Carney was to deliver the keynote speech at the Institute of International Finance's 2019 Spring Membership Meeting, in Tokyo, followed by a question and answers session.

Speaking of central banks, on Wednesday, in remarks made at Belgium's central bank, recently retired ECB chief economist, Peter Praet, warned of the dangers of tinkering with the underlying architecture of the global trading system.

Praet also said that a cut in interest rates might not help if central bankers were forced to warn of a "trade war maybe tomorrow morning".

On the corporate front and for AutoTrader, Numis's Gareth Davies was anticipating an "encouraging" set of fiscal year figures with profits before tax up by 8.1% to £227.8m and risks to that number "firmly to the upside".

Revenues meanwhile were pegged at £349.7m and EBITDA operating profits at £246.2m for earnings per share of 19.5p.

Including the cost of setting up its joint venture, net debt was seen at £341.0m.

Investors' focus was otherwise expected to be on new products, the JV and the competitive backdrop.

"We retain our BUY recommendation into results, though acknowledge the very strong run the shares have had in 2019," Davies said in a research note sent to clients.

Thursday June 06

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Coca-Cola European Partners (DI), James Halstead

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Aberdeen Frontier Markets Investment Company, AJ Bell, Albion Technology & General VCT, Associated British Foods, AVI Global Trust , Aviva 8 3/4% Cumulative Irrd Preference 1, Blackrock Frontiers Investment Trust, Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V), easyHotel, General Accident 'A', Henderson European Focus Trust, Jersey Electricity 'A' Shares, Northern Venture Trust, Renew Holdings, SSP Group , Tharisa (DI), Topps Tiles, Urban&Civic , Victrex plc, Watkin Jones

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

HICL Infrastructure , Honeycomb Investment Trust, Raven Property Group 6.5% Red Cnv Pref Shs NPV, Regional REIT Limited, RM Secured Direct Lending, UIL Limited (DI)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (US) (13:30)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

ECB Interest Rate (EU) (12:45)

Factory Orders (GER) (07:00)

Gross Domestic Product (EU) (10:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

FINALS

Auto Trader Group , CMC Markets, First Property Group, Mitie Group, Stenprop Limited

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Marshalls, RM Secured Direct Lending, Taylor Wimpey, U And I Group

AGMS

Aurora Investment Trust, Coro Energy, Creo Medical Group, Hochschild Mining, Honeycomb Investment Trust, Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Inv Trust, IQ-AI Limited, P2P Global Investments, RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI), Safestay, Scisys Group, Telit Communications, TP Group, Xpediator

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Go-Ahead Group, Joules Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Halifax House Price Index (08:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Legal & General Group, Macfarlane Group, McColl's Retail Group , Smart Metering Systems, Total Produce, Weir Group, William Hill

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Air Partner, Anglo-Eastern Plantations, Animalcare Group, Applegreen, Arrow Global Group, ASA International Group , Billington Holdings, Christie Group, Flowtech Fluidpower, Headlam Group, Johnson Matthey, Judges Scientific, Kingfisher, Learning Technologies Group , London Security, M&C Saatchi, Marshalls, Phoenix Spree Deutschland Limited Shs NPV , Restaurant Group, Restore, Rotala, Sainsbury (J), Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, SIG, Spectra Systems Corporation, Synthomer, TBC Bank Group, Telford Homes, Vodafone Group, Volta Finance Limited NPV (GBP), Young & Co's Brewery 'A' Shares