Wednesday preview: No-Confidence vote, US November CPI
The first thing that market participants should do on Wednesday morning is to scan the headlines for confirmation, or otherwise, that the 1922 Committee has received the pre-requisite 48 letters needed to trigger a no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister.
Currys
63.45p
16:40 18/04/24
FTSE 100
7,877.05
17:14 18/04/24
FTSE 250
19,450.67
17:14 18/04/24
FTSE 350
4,334.00
17:14 18/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,290.02
16:54 18/04/24
General Retailers
3,805.00
17:14 18/04/24
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution
4,928.34
16:30 11/04/24
Personal Goods
15,614.86
17:14 18/04/24
Superdry
8.50p
16:40 18/04/24
Wood Group (John)
151.00p
16:40 18/04/24
In parallel, investors will likely also do well to keep an eye out for any indication that the detention of Huawei's finance chief in Canada, and of an ex-Canadian diplomat in the Asian giant, might be heightening the diplomatic tensions between Washington and Ottawa on the one hand and Beijing on the other.
For later in the session, and barring surprises, financial markets' attention is likely to shift to the latest US consumer price data in the States, referencing the month of November.
Consensus is calling for a dip in the headline rate of CPI from a year-on-year clip of 2.5% for October to 2.2% in November.
Core CPI meanwhile is seen edging up from 2.1% to 2.2%.
Looking further out, economists at Barclays Research are projecting CPI to slow to 1.2% over the front half of 2019 and to then pick-up to a 1.9% pace by the end of the year.
Core CPI on the other hand is seen accelerating and seeing 2019 out from 2.5%, a clip which is expected to be maintained in 2020.
To take note of, analysts at Barclays are among those who still expect the Federal Reserve to hike short-term interest rates in the US four times over the course of 2019.
On the corporate front meanwhile, investors will be waiting on updates from the likes of Dixons Carphone, Wood Group and Superdry.
Regarding the former, Numis's Simon Bowler believed the market spotlight on Wednesday would be on the consumer electronics retailer's sales momentum in the second quarter, any updates to its guidance and the possibility of more detail regarding the firm's strategic direction from its new boss, Alex Baldock.
In particular, there was interest in knowing the company's plans for its mobile arm, with its closure or attempts at a turnaround both possible.
Bowler also cautioned that the interim profit figure would be "muddied" by several changes to the company's disclosure policy, adding that it saw the risks to the firm's guidance as weighted to the downside.
On Wood Group, UBS's Amy Wong said investors were likely to focus on the oilfield services group's progress in hitting its targets for $200m in proceeds from asset disposals and of lowering its debt position to under 1.5 times' operating profits.
Consensus for the outfit's full-year EBITA was $635m with earnings per share pegged at 59.6 cents.
For fashion retailer Superdry, Numis's Andrew Wade forecast half-year profits before tax of £17m with management having guided as recently as October towards flat year-on-year sales in the retail segment, including both from digital and stores.
The latter was despite a large increase in new retail space over the period.
To take note of, when looking out to the back half of the fiscal year, the firm indicated that a key driver of its full fiscal year profitability would be the success of its range of cold weather products over Christmas.
In any case, Wade was quite cautious, telling clients: "we continue to have concerns that the issues being experienced by the business, as evidenced by the significant sequential multi-year declines in retail contribution margin, run deeper than the weather and a lack of product diversification.
"We retain our cautious stance."
Wednesday December 12
INTERIMS
Dixons Carphone , Evgen Pharma, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Superdry, The Fulham Shore
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
DCC
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
FINALS
Local Shopping REIT
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Lancashire Holdings Limited
AGMS
Aberdeen Frontier Markets Investment Company, Alternative Liquidity Fund Limited, Bellway, Blancco Technology Group, BowLeven, Fidelity Special Values, Imaginatik, International Biotech Trust, Netcall, Orchard Funding Group , Pipehawk, Tristel, Volution Group (WI), YouGov
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Blancco Technology Group, British American Tobacco, Wood Group (John)