Weekly outlook: Boohoo results and a brighter outlook for mortgages

Key events for UK wealth managers for the week starting 26 September

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Monday 26 September

  • – Full-year results from Finsbury Food

Tuesday 27 September

  • – Full-year results from Ferguson
  • – First-half results from AG Barr, Saga, S&U, Card Factory and Next Fifteen Communications
  • – US durable goods orders
  • – US Case-Shiller house price index
  • – US new homes sales
  • – In the US, quarterly results from Jabil

Wednesday 28 September

  • – First-half results from Boohoo and Dignity

Boohoo is set to announce its first-half results on Wednesday following a revenue decline in Q1. According to Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Laura Hoy, investors will be looking for improved trading in order for the fast-fashion retailer to deliver on its forecast for single-digit full year growth.

She said: “The big question when Boohoo reports is whether or not demand is holding up in the current environment. Supply chain bottlenecks are an industry-wide issue, but they could put a serious damper on Boohoo’s growth plans. First quarter results were lacklustre at best and given the group’s investing heavily in expanding capacity, demand is essential if it’s to pull off an expansion in the US.”

  • – BRC UK retail sales figures
  • – US oil inventories
  • – US pending homes sales

Thursday 29 September

  • – First-half results from Trufin and Bango
  • – UK mortgage approvals data

UK mortgage approvals data will be released on Thursday. The 63,770 greenlit applications recorded in July represented a 14% drop compared to the same month last year. It also marked the twelfth consecutive month to report a year-on-year decline. But it’s not all bad news, with the July figure 1% higher than June.

Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, and financial analyst Danni Hewson, said: “Perhaps most tellingly, however, [July’s] figure also undershot 2019’s pre-pandemic monthly average of 65,800 as the shot in the arm provided to the market by the government’s stamp duty land tax break during the viral outbreak wore off. Monthly approvals are no higher now than they were in autumn 2013, shortly after the launch of Help to Buy by then-chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne.”

Mould and Hewson’s comments were made prior to now-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announcing in Friday’s “mini-budget” that the rates at which stamp duty is triggered have been significantly lifted. The threshold at which stamp duty is triggered has doubled to £250,000, while first-time buyers will now only have to pay the duty if the value of their property exceeds £450,000.

Without that particular millstone around the neck of prospective buyers, there could be a significant rise in the number of people applying for a mortgage. The changes came into effect from 23 September, so any uplift likely won’t register until the full figures for October and November of this year are released.

But the year-long mortgage approvals slump looks set to come to an end.

  • – US weekly unemployment claims
  • – In Europe, quarterly results from H&M plus the Porsche initial public offering starts trading in Frankfurt
  • – In the US, quarterly results from Nike, Carnival and silicon chip maker Micron

Friday 30 September

  • – Full-year results from Hotel Chocolat and Go-Ahead Group
  • – First-half results from HSS Hire
  • – Chinese purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) for manufacturing and services industries
  • – UK money supply
  • – EU flash inflation figures
  • – US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index

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