Monday 31 March
- Full-year results from Portmeirion and Inspired Energy
- First-half results from YouGov and Victoria Plumbing
- UK mortgage approvals
- Purchasing manufacturers’ indices (PMIs) for manufacturing and services from China
- Petershill Partners full-year results
Private equity firm Petershill Partners will announce their full-year results on Monday.
Share prices in some of the leading US private equity giants have fallen on questions over whether the asset class can repeat some of the stunning returns it has provided over the last decade, when interest rates were largely close to zero.
“By contrast, Petershill’s shares have rallied this year,” said AJ Bell analyst trio Russ Mould, Danni Hewson and Dan Coatsworth, “helped by an upbeat trading statement in January, when the company also achieved a major realisation upon the sale of the majority of its stake in General Catalyst for $762million, a 62% premium to carrying value and equivalent to a fifth of Petershill Partners’ stock market capitalisation at the time.
“That deal completed a good year for Petershill, which sold $15 billion of fee-paying assets under management (AUM) in 2024, well ahead of its guidance for the year of $5 billion to $10 billion.
“Besides realisations, investors will look for updates on AUM, and planned raisings in 2025. Petershill ended 2024 with $337 billion in AUM, of which 70% was already fee-paying. For 2025, management has thus far guided to: fund raisings of $20bn to $25bn in 2025, and realisations of $5bn to $10bn”.
Tuesday 1 April
- Full-year results from Serica Energy
- Trading statement from Renew Holdings
- BRC UK shop price index
- Interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia
- Japanese Tankan business sentiment survey
- Purchasing manufacturers’ indices (PMIs) for manufacturing from Japan, Asia, Europe, the UK and US
- US car sales
- US labour market data
In a big week for US labour market data releases, the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, will come out on Tuesday, before unemployment and payrolls data release later in the week.
“The labour market data (and the tariffs, for that matter) may shape US Federal Reserve policy when the Federal Open Markets Committee meets on 7 May,” said Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis and Dan Coatsworth, AJ Bell investment analyst.
“Markets think the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged at 4.50% at that meeting, only to lay the groundwork for a quarter-point cut at the June meeting and for two more reductions of the same scale to take the headline Fed Funds rate to 3.75% by the end of this year.
“On the face of it, loosening policy looks a bit odd when inflation is above target, unemployment is low and stock markets are still near all-time highs, but there is anecdotal evidence that the US economy is softening, in the form of retail sales, housing sales, and even airline companies, who are citing federal government layoffs as a reason for a drop-off in demand in the early stages of 2025.
“Remember also that it takes 18 to 24 months for changes in interest rates to filter through, so the Fed is really trying to decide what is the appropriate cost of money for spring 2027 – not now.
“This is why it is always worth following the yield on US two-year government bonds, or Treasuries. The US two-year yield is 3.95%, which suggests either the Fed will stop after two to three cuts or that it will have to reverse course and start raising them within two years, should it go any deeper.”
Wednesday 2 April
- Full-year results from Raspberry Pi
- First-half results from Gattaca
- ADP US payrolls
- US factory orders
- US oil inventories
- In the US, quarterly results from BlackBerry
- Imposition of US tariffs
Thursday 3 April
- Trading statement from Moonpig
- Purchasing manufacturers’ indices (PMIs) for manufacturing from Japan, Asia, Europe, the UK and USA
- OPEC+ meeting
- Challenger, Gray and Christmas US job losses survey
Friday 4 April
- In Japan, quarterly results from Yaskawa
- In Europe, quarterly results from Sodexo