Monday 15 March
-Full-year results from Ascential
-Rightmove UK house price index
-Chinese fixed asset investment, retail sales and industrial production growth data
-Empire State (New York Fed) manufacturing survey
-In Asia, quarterly results from drinks giant Meituan
Tuesday 16 March
-Antofagasta full-year results:
Shares in the Chilean copper miner are up by more than 120% in the past 12 months, reflecting a booming copper price, up by 60% over the last year.
Ebitda is expected to rise by 8% for 2020 to $2.6bn as lower costs and higher prices offset lower production, with a further rise of 38% to $3.6bn predicted for 2021.
Analysts are looking for a full year dividend of 31 cents, despite a 40% cut to its interim dividend payment to 6.2 US cents.
-Full-year results from Greggs, John Wood, TI Fluid Systems and Bakkavor
-First-half results from Ferguson
-German ZEW economic sentiment survey
-US retail sales figures
-US industrial production and capacity utilisation data
-US NAHB housebuilders’ index
-In Europe, quarterly results from Volkswagen and Zalando
Wednesday 17 March
-US Federal Reserve monetary policy decision
The Fed has held the upper band of the Fed funds rate a record low of 0.25% since March 2020 and it is running a quantitative easing programme that comes to $120bn a month. As a result, the Fed’s balance sheet currently holds $7.6trn of assets, 78% more than a year ago.
“The increase in benchmark US Treasury yields has sparked speculation that the Fed will return to 2011’s Operation Twist, whereby it sells short-dated bonds and buys long-dated ones, to flatten the yield curve in an attempt to boost demand for credit (albeit to the enormous detriment of banks’ net interest margins and their willingness and ability to lend),” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
-Full-year results from Ferrexpo and Capita
-Dutch parliamentary election
-EU inflation figures
-US new housing starts and housing permits data
-US oil inventory data
-In Asia, quarterly results from Samsonite and Pinduoduo
-In Germany, quarterly results from BMW
Thursday 18 March
-Bank of England monetary policy decision
The Bank of England has held its headline interest rate at a record low of 0.1% since March 2020, while it took its total quantitative easing scheme to £895bn last November.
“Talk of a move to negative interest rates has gone a little quieter, as governor Andrew Bailey is now suggesting that the risks of deflation and inflation are more finely balanced. If the economy does not bounce back quickly from the pandemic then it still seems that nothing can be ruled out,” said Mould.
-Bank of Japan monetary policy decision
The Bank of Japan has held its interest rate at a record low of -0.1% since February 2016 and continues to run a quantitative and qualitative easing plan, in which the BoJ buys government bonds to cap the yield on the 10-year paper at 0.1%. The yield has crept just above that mark for the first time since 2018. However, indicators from BoJ deputy governor Masayoshi Amamiya suggest that the BoJ review will not lead to major changes.
-Full-year results from Fevertree Drinks, 888 and Gym Group
-Trading update from Ocado
-In Asia, quarterly results from TopGlove
-In the US, quarterly results from Nike, Accenture, FedEx and Dollar General
Friday 19 March
-OSB full-year results
Shares in OSB, formerly OneSavings Bank, are trading at near all-time highs thanks to the bank’s competitive position and investors’ confidence in the UK property market.
Government policies to support the housing market, such as extensions to the stamp duty holiday and Help to Buy, as well as a new mortgage guarantee scheme, put the specialist lender in a good position.
Pre-tax profit is expected to drop by one-third to £248m from £381m last year, a much lower decline in profits than for the Big Five. Bad loan losses are expected to be around £90m.
Analysts believe that the bank could return to the dividend list with a dividend of 10p a share, after cancelling its declared final payment for 2020 and its interim payment for 2021.
-Full-year results from ContourGlobal
-Pension Dashboard Programme’s ‘Identify call for input for data providers’ closes
-First-half results from JD Wetherspoon
-GfK UK consumer confidence survey
-UK government borrowing figures
