Astrazeneca and Biontech deliver results although their Covid-19 vaccines are likely to have differing effects on their profits, Primark-owner ABF unveils how rising input costs and supply chain bottlenecks are affecting the retail conglomerate, while in macro news both the US and China reveal their inflation figures for September.
Monday 8 November
-Trading update from Dignity
-US mortgage delinquency data
-US Senior Loan Officer survey
-In Japan, quarterly results from Softbank
-In the US, quarterly results from PayPal, AMC Entertainment and Tencent Music
Tuesday 9 November
-Associated British Foods full-year results
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould noted the company upgraded forecasts for the full year in its H1 results in April yet “shares have refused to listen”. Mould attributes this to three factors: disappointing sales figures for Q4 down 17% against the same period in 2019, pre pandemic; concerns about rising input costs and potentially the effect on inflation and higher taxes on consumer spending; and concerns over supply chain bottlenecks in ports and truck depots.
Sales are expected to come in broadly flat on a stated basis at £13.9bn and earnings per share are expected to reach 69p, he said.
-US producer price inflation (PPI)
In September, producer price inflation (PPI) reached 8.6% year-on-year, a 13-year high. “America’s Bureau for Labor Statistics shows not just the headline producer price index for goods and services in final demand, but also for intermediate stages of the production process,” Mould said. “Rather scarily price increases there ranged from 12% to 23% and the price of unprocessed goods – raw materials and commodities and the like used in the intermediate stages – jumped by 47% year-on-year in September. It seems logical to expect at least some of that to filter through and possibly sooner rather than later.”
-First-half results from DCC and Oxford Instruments
-Trading updates from Persimmon, Meggitt, Direct Line and Watches of Switzerland
-German ZEW economic sentiment survey
-US NFIB small companies business conditions survey
-In Japan, quarterly results from Nissan
-In Asia, monthly sales from silicon chip foundry UMC
-In Europe, quarterly results from Bayer
-In the US, quarterly results from Coinbase, BioNTech, Doordash and Palantir
Wednesday 10 November
-Chinese inflation (PPI & CPI)
In September, producer price inflation (PPI) reached 10.7% year-on-year, the highest figure since records began back in 1999. However, consumer price inflation (CPI) actually eased to just 0.7%. Mould said a lot of China’s low CPI figure in September was down to a 47% year-on-year drop in pork prices and an overall 5.2% drop in food costs. That is because in 2020 pig herd numbers were hit hard by an outbreak of blue ear disease.
-US consumer price inflation (CPI)
Consumer price inflation (CPI) accelerated to 5.4% in September, the highest mark since 2008. “It is intriguing to see 2008 cropping up there as that year the global economy really hit the buffers as the Great Financial Crisis broke,” Mould said. “Let’s hope we don’t see a repeat this time around, and at the moment, if anything, the signs are that there could be more inflation in the pipeline.”
-First-half results from AVEVA, Marks & Spencer and Halfords
-Trading updates from ITV and Grafton
-Analysts’ meetings at Entain and ASOS
-US weekly jobless claims
-US oil inventories
-In Asia, monthly sales from silicon chip foundry TSMC
-In Europe, quarterly results from Adidas, Infineon and E.On
-In the US, quarterly results from Tencent and Walt Disney
Thursday 11 November
-Full-year results from WH Smith
-First-half results from Burberry, AutoTrader, B&M European Value Retail and Ted Baker
-Trading statements from Taylor Wimpey, Aviva and OSB
-UK manufacturing, industrial and construction output data
-ECB Economic Bulletin
-In Europe, quarterly results from Siemens, Delivery Hero and ArcelorMittal
-In the US, quarterly results from Tapestry
Friday 12 November
-Astrazeneca third-quarter results
During its H1 results, Astrazeneca raised guidance for 2021 for both sales and core earnings per share. That’s despite the impact of the Covid-19 vaccine, noted Mould. It contributed $275m to revenues in the first quarter and $894m in the second but Astrazeneca is selling the product, jointly developed with the University of Oxford, at cost, and it is currently losing money on the drug, he says. That is in stark contrast to Pfizer and Biontech, which will be posting its quarterly results earlier in the week.
-First-half results from Brickability
-Chinese tangible fixed asset investment, retail sales and industrial output growth figures
-US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
-In Japan, quarterly results from semiconductor production equipment (SPE) specialist Tokyo Electron
