Monday 16 August
-Chinese industrial production, retail sales and unemployment figures
-New York Empire State Manufacturing Index
-In the US, Roblox reports
Tuesday 17 August
–BHP Group full year results
-Half year results for Just Eat Takeaway.com, online trading platform Plus500 and plastic piping manufacturer Genuit
-UK unemployment figures and Q2 labour productivity data
– EU and euro area flash estimate GDP and employment for Q2
-US retail sales, capacity utilisation, industrial production and business inventories
–US retailers Walmart and Home Depot report quarterly earnings
Wednesday 18 August
–Balfour Beatty H1 results
Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Nicholas Hyett says the infrastructure group’s margins will be the key metric on investors’ radars.
“The group operates on relatively thin margins at the best of times—in 2019 underlying margins were 2.2%. The pandemic’s disruption brought that figure below 1% last year,” he says.
Shareholders will be keen to see whether the group’s buyback scheme is on track, Hyett adds. Balfour Beatty has promised to buy back a total of £150m worth of share this year.
–Persimmon H1 results
“There is a lot to play for currently in the housebuilding sector and Persimmon is a bellwether name,” says Steve Clayton, manager of HL Select Funds.
“Investors will want reassurance that the group can keep margins buoyant, even as cost pressures mount.”
-Half year results for Hochshild Mining, Network International Holdings and Nvidia
-UK consumer price index, producer price index and retail price index
-EU inflation data for July
-US housing starts
-US crude oil inventories
–Tencent Q2 earnings
China’s regulatory crackdown has cast a shadow over Tencent’s upcoming earning release. Shares in the internet giant lost nearly a quarter of their value in July, a $170bn reduction in its market cap, causing a major headache for backers including Baillie Gifford.
In the first quarter Tencent’s revenues rose by a quarter to 135.3bn yuan ($20.6bn) on a year ago and adjusted operating profit rose 20%.
-Other US reporters include Cisco, Lowe’s, Target and Synopsys
-In Europe, Danish brewer Carlsberg releases interim results
Thursday 19 August
-H1 results for Antofagasta, Helios Towers, and Rank Group
-US initial jobless claims
–American cosmetics company Estee Lauder and retailer Ross report
Friday 20 August
– GFK Consumer Confidence
– UK public sector net borrowing
-UK retail sales
-German producer price index
–Meituan Q2 earnings
Another Baillie Gifford favourite Chinese food delivery service Meituan has also gotten caught up in the tech slump. The company has been at the centre of an anti-monopoly probe since April and is expected to be slapped with a $1bn fine. Though its market cap has plunged $50bn since the investigation, shares recovered last week following news authorities were close to wrapping up.
-Quarterly earnings from US manufacturer Deere & Co
