Monday 1 November
-Full-year results from Lok’nStore
-First-half results from Ryanair
-Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) from Asia, the UK and US
-In Europe, quarterly results from Coloplast
-In the US, quarterly results from NXP Semiconductor, Simon Properties, Clorox and ON Semiconductor
Tuesday 2 November
–BP Q3 results
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould and financial analyst Danni Hewson said there is a sense that 2021’s oil rally could represent “the last hurrah” for BP. Investors have been voting with their feet, with BP’s shares well below levels seen in 2010 and 2014 when oil last traded around $86 a barrel.
“The worry that oil assets will become stranded assets as the world switches to different energy sources is not going away,” said Mould and Hewson. “Tesla’s $1trn market capitalisation now matches that of the seven western oil ‘majors’ even if that septet is, according to analysts’ consensus estimates, forecast to generate $1.1trn in sales and $132.5bn in pre-tax profit in 2021 compared to Tesla’s $51bn and $5.6bn respectively.”
However they added that higher oil and gas prices can help the FTSE 100 firm generate “precious cashflow,” which it can reinvest in renewables or to fund dividends and share buybacks. BP’s forecast dividend for 2021 is £3bn, which Mould and Hewson note is enough for a yield of more than 5%, and the buybacks put another £1.4bn in investors’ pockets.
-Trading updates from Standard Chartered, RPS, Hiscox, IWG and Watkin Jones
-Interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia
-European manufacturing industry PMIs
-US car sales
-In Europe, quarterly results from AP Møller-Maersk, Ferrari and HelloFresh
-In the US, quarterly results from Pfizer, Estée Lauder, Conoco-Phillips, Mondelez, Activision Blizzard, Thomson Reuters, Zillow and Lyft
Wednesday 3 November
–Next Q3 results
Steve Clayton, manager of the Hargreaves Lansdown Select Funds, said the fashion retailer has reported better than predicted sales in recent quarters.
“Next benefited from being one of the stronger players online and picked up market share when the high street shut down,” Clayton said. “Now, the playing field is more level, but so far, Next’s digital strengths have kept it ahead of the pack.”
-First-half results from Trainline
-Trading updates from Smurfit Kappa, Coca-Cola HBC and CLS Holdings
-Federal Reserve interest rate decision
The Fed is not expected to raise interest rates this time around, although several economists are predicting it may finally begin scaling back its $120bn a month asset purchase programme.
The headline US interest rate is still stuck at 0.25% and the central bank’s asset base is a record $8.6trn.
-Services PMIs from Asia, Europe, the UK and US
-EU unemployment
-ADP payrolls in the USA
-US oil inventories
-In Europe, quarterly results from Novo Nordisk, BMW, Orsted, Intesa Sanpaolo, Wolters Kluwer, Pandora and Lufthansa
-In the US, quarterly results from Costco, Qualcomm, CVS, Electronic Arts, Franco-Nevada, Fox, MGM Resorts and CF Industries
Thursday 4 November
-First-half results from BT
BT has been at the centre of a flurry of headlines this year, from selling its pay-TV sports business to Len Blavatnik’s sports streaming service DAZN to French telecoms giant Altice buying a 12.1% stake in the business and former ITV boss Adam Crazier stepping up to replace chairman Jan Du Plessis.
For the second quarter, analysts are pencilling in sales of £5.2bn, down 2.3% year-on-year, Ebitda of £1.9bn and an interim dividend of zero, Mould and Hewson said. Afterwards attention will turn to its balance sheet, which had £12bn of net debt, a pension deficit of £5bn and lease liabilities of £5.4bn at the end of the last fiscal year, and capital spending on its 5G mobile and fibre broadband services.
-First-half results from Sainsbury and Electrocomponents
-Trading statements from Wizz Air, Smith & Nephew, TI Fluid Systems, Aston Martin Lagonda and commercial property landlord Derwent London
-Bank of England interest rate decision
If the Federal Reserve begins to taper its quantitative easing (QE), it might not be long before the Bank of England follows suit, Mould and Hewson said. At the September meeting, two members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) voted for the central bank to cut its purchases from £895bn to £860bn. In August, the vote was 8-1 in favour of no change.
But it is not expected that the Bank will hike rates above 0.1% this month, especially not after September’s weaker than expected inflation data.
-German factory orders
-UK construction industry purchasing managers’ index (PMI)
-Challenger, Gray & Christmas job loss figures in the USA
-US weekly unemployment claims
-In Japan, quarterly results from Toyota and Nintendo
-In Asia, quarterly results from Alibaba
-In Europe, quarterly results from Société Générale, Siemens Healthineers and Credit Suisse
-In the US, quarterly results from Moderna, Square, Airbnb, Zoetis, Uber, Illumina, Microchip, Barrick Gold, Peloton and Kellogg
Friday 5 November
-Trading statements from International Consolidated Airlines
-Halifax UK house price index
-US non-farm pay rolls, unemployment and wage growth
-In Europe, quarterly results from Uniper
