Monday 3 August
– First-half results from HSBC and Hiscox
– Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices in Asia, Europe, the UK and US
– US monthly car sales figures
– In Europe, quarterly results from Heineken and Siemens Healthineers
– In the US, quarterly results from Ferrari, KLA-Tencor, Clorox and AIG
Tuesday 4 August
– BP second-quarter results
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “New BP boss Bernard Looney, who took over in February, is already looking to reposition BP and ensure it is a so-called net zero company by 2050 and he is planning a big strategy presentation on this in the autumn. Analysts will look for comments about it in these second-quarter results, too, not least because they are going to be ugly.”
– Full-year results from Diageo
– First-half results from Spectris, Direct Line and Centamin
– Interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia
– UK construction industry purchasing managers’ index (PMI)
– US factory orders data
– In Japan, quarterly results from Sony
– In Europe, quarterly results from Bayer, Infineon and Accor
– In the US, quarterly results from Walt Disney, ActivisionBlizzard and Baidu
Wednesday 5 August
– European services PMI (July, final)
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management head of managed portfolio service Jordan Sriharan said: “Europe is a continent with positive momentum very much in its favour. The recently agreed recovery fund finally brings Europe’s politicians into line, promoting a more sustainable future for the euro and providing another level of support for an economy previously propped up solely by monetary policy.
“On the ground, there are also reasons to be optimistic, as evidenced by the preliminary services PMI for July which came through at 55.1, a large increase from 48.3 the previous month.”
– First-half results from Legal & General, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling, William Hill and Metro Bank
– Service industries purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) in Asia, Europe, the UK and US
– US ADP payroll change figure
– US oil inventory data
– In Asia, quarterly results from Hong Kong Exchanges
– In Europe, quarterly results from Allianz, BMW and Continental
– In the US, quarterly results from CVS, Moderna, Fox and Lyft
Thursday 6 August
– First-half results from ITV, Glencore, Aviva, Mondi, Phoenix Group and Serco
– Bank of England monetary policy decision
Sriharan said: “Interest rates now sit at 0.10% from 0.65% back in March. It has engaged in a new round of quantitative easing which increased its total stock of assets to £745bn, almost double where it was pre-Covid-19. The BoE anticipates completing the asset purchase plan by the end of the year but investors suspect that there may be more to come.
“This would help explain why UK government bond yields have pushed lower while their US and German counterparts have remained range-bound over the past couple of months. Whilst we expect this meeting to come too early for another announcement of QE, we think it might hint at the possibility.”
– Challenger, Gray and Christmas job cuts survey in the US
– In Japan, quarterly results from Toyota and Nintendo
– In Europe, quarterly results from Novo Nordisk, Siemens and Adidas
– In the US, quarterly results from NVIDIA and Uber
Friday 7 August
– US non-farm payrolls and unemployment data
Mould said: “The latest non-farm payrolls numbers in the USA cover July, when the number of Covid-19 cases Stateside began to rise again, so these numbers will be very important when it comes to assessing the case for a V-shaped economic recovery, even if the last two batches have been a bit of a mess, as much for how they are collated as what they represent.”
– First-half results from Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Standard Life Aberdeen
– German industrial production data
– In Asia, quarterly results from Sands China
