Investing.com - Financial Markets Worldwide
Get 40% Off
Get 40% Off
⚠ Earnings Alert! Which stocks are poised to surge?
See the stocks on our ProPicks radar. These strategies gained 19.7% year-to-date.
Unlock full list

Key Events For The Week Ahead

ByMichael Hewson
Published 2018-02-02, 03:46 p/m
Updated 2023-07-09, 06:32 a/m
  1. Bank of England inflation report and rate meeting, U.K. data: It’s a big week for the pound with the latest interest rate decision and quarterly inflation report. With the pound at its highest levels since the Brexit vote against the U.S. dollar MPC officials will be hoping that the 18% gain from a year ago will start to have a downward effect on the headline inflation rate. For now, that doesn’t seem to be happening if recent rises in input prices are anything to go by. Bank of England governor Mark Carney will be hoping at his Thursday press conference, that U.K. wage growth starts to move in a similar direction to U.S. wages in the coming months so he can start guiding expectations of another rise in interest rates for later this year, against a backdrop of an improving economy. The latest services PMI for January, released on Monday, should give us a decent indication that the U.K. economy has got off to a decent start in 2018 after a strong end to 2017.
  2. Global Services PMIs: Last month, the IMF upgraded its growth forecasts for the global economy for the current year, with Europe in particular finding itself on the right side of the funds upgrades. The U.K. economy on the other hand found itself downgraded, and this week’s services PMI data for January will give a good indication as to whether the strong gains seen at the end of last year have been sustained into the new year.
  3. RBA and RBNZ rate meeting: It’s another big week for central bank meetings with the RBA and RBNZ due to update the market with their latest outlook for their respective economies. A few weeks ago the improvement in economic data would have raised expectations that the RBA might look to raise rates, however, the 6.5% rise in the Australian dollar to a two-year peak in that time has skewed the calculus somewhat. It’s a similar story for the Kiwi dollar and as such the weakness of the U.S. dollar is likely to see both central banks implement no changes to policy.
  4. BP (LON:BP) – Full year results: The BP turnaround story has been a long road from the tragic events back in 2010 that saw the share price halve in the space of three months. With the share price back to April 2010 levels once again, it would be tempting to say the turnaround is complete, but those Gulf of Mexico events are still a significant legacy issue for the business. The recovery in the oil price back to $70 has also played a part and is likely to play out in a significant increase in revenues, as well as profit when BP announces full year numbers later this week. At its last trading update the company announced that it had managed to reduce its break-even price to $49 a barrel and with an average price of around $58 a barrel over the last quarter, revenues are likely to show a significant increase. The downside is that the company has had to set aside another $1.7bn in provisions as a result of Deepwater Horizon for the final quarter, along with a short-term charge of $1.5bn as a result of the recent tax changes in the U.S. This is likely to put a huge dent in total profits for the fiscal year, however, in the longer term it is likely to be construed as a positive.
  5. Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) – Full year results: Australia’s biggest mining company has had a decent last few months with rising commodity prices likely to have contributed to another decent year after its big loss at the end of 2015. The company was able to pay a record interim dividend in the first half of this year, after doubling its first half profit to $4.1bn. In its latest trading update, the company announced that it had hit its export targets for iron ore this year. The company also announced that its copper output was up 23% on the quarter and, with copper and iron ore prices near multi-month highs, expectations are high that this week’s numbers could result in another bumper payout for shareholders, with the shares up near 7-year highs.
  6. Disney – Q1 2018: As far as the box office is concerned, Disney has few peers, with the Star Wars franchise expected to see a decent first quarter. Its performance at the end of 2017 was slightly disappointing but the Christmas release of “The Last Jedi” is expected to give it a decent first quarter. Away from making films the company is looking to tighten its grip on the industry with its acquisition of 21st Century Fox as it looks to gain a foothold in the pay TV market. Fox’s Sky assets are a lucrative doorway to the European market and will give Disney the ability to take on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) in the on-line streaming space.
  7. Tesla – Q4 2017: Tesla attempts to crack the lower end of the electric car market with the Model 3 saw the company post a record loss of $619m in its Q3 numbers. The introduction of a number of new models over the past three years has added to the costs as well as the complexity of the production line, and while the order book looks healthy, the problem is the company can’t produce the cars quickly enough. In Q3, the company only managed to produce 260 Model 3 cars instead of the anticipated 1,500, due to battery manufacturing issues. The company said it expected to be able to produce 5,000 Model 3s by the end of Q1 2018 as it sorted out its supply-chain issues. This week’s numbers will establish whether that target is anywhere close to being achieved, and whether the company is any closer to reducing its losses.

Latest comments

Install Our App
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.