Monday 30 November
– Opec meeting
“Brent crude may have recovered to some degree from spring’s chaos, when the price of a barrel briefly went negative” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. “But even at $48 a barrel, the highest level since March, oil is still down by a quarter from where it was a year ago.”
He added: “The industry-wide cuts in spending and production can be seen in the number of rigs that are at work worldwide, which is down 52% year-on-year and stands at the lowest level recorded by Baker Hughes, whose records go back to 1975.
“This helps to explain why the latest Opec meeting is so important.”
– Flash purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) in China
– UK mortgage application and lending data
– Chicago purchasing managers’ index (PMI) in the US
– In Asia, quarterly results from online shopping platform Meituan and L’Occidentale
– In the US, quarterly results from Zoom Video Communications
Tuesday 1 December
– Full-year results from Topps Tiles
– Interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia
– Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) in Asia, Europe, UK and USA
– US car sales figures
– In the US, quarterly results from Salesforce.com and HP Enterprises
Wednesday 2 December
– Avon Rubber full-year results
Avon Rubber is the second-best performer in the FTSE 350 over the past decade, trailing only Ashtead, noted Mould.
“Buoyed by acquisitions and strong order flow, analysts are looking for adjusted pre-tax profits of £38.8m, against £31.4m last year. Should chief executive Paul McDonald feel able to give any guidance for the new financial year just begun, the analysts’ consensus for fiscal 2020-21 is £50.3m.”
– Full-year results from Stock Spirits
– Results of the latest quarterly FTSE 100 index reshuffle
– UK construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI)
– EU unemployment data
– US ADP monthly jobs data
– Federal Reserve Beige Book
– US oil inventories data
– In the US, quarterly results from Snowflake, Lululemon and Splunk
Thursday 3 December
– Full-year results from house builder Countryside Properties
– Trading update from Go-Ahead Group
– Services industries purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) in Asia, Europe, UK and US
– Challenger, Gray and Christmas monthly job cuts survey
– In Europe, quarterly results from Scandinavian airline SAS
– In the US, quarterly results from Dollar General, Marvell and Kroger
Friday 4 December
– Berkeley Group first-half results
“Sadly, this will be the company’s first formal results statement since the untimely death in the summer of chairman, co-founder and building industry giant Tony Pidgley,” Mould said.
He added Berkeley’s shares are, at the time of recording, trading at their highest level since March, although they are still down by a fifth from their early 2020 peaks. But September’s trading statement offered some grounds for encouragement and support to the share price recovery seen since the height of the market-wide panic in March.
– German factory orders data
– US non-farm payrolls data.
According to Mould: “Economists will be looking to see how many new jobs America created last month, in comparison to October’s 638,000, as the world’s biggest economy looks to keep on recovering from April’s juddering hit when over 20 million jobs were lost.”
