Friday preview: RBS, Logica, Non-farm payrolls

5th Aug 2010 17:35

Royal Bank of Scotland will dominate the morning headlines with the state-owned bank tipped to return to the black tomorrow.Brokers suggest it could post a pre-tax profit of £200m, though there is still much chopping and changing on the go at RBS, the actual figures could be well above or well below. Bonuses will be watched closely, as will RBS's European exposure with ABN Amro's large eurozone loan book.Insurer Old Mutual posted good sales in its first quarter. Its rivals this week have shown good momentum in the second quarter as well and investors will be disappointed if Old Mutual cannot do likewise.Software group Logica has plenty of public sector contracts in the UK and what it has to say about the impact of planned government cutbacks will be keenly watched tomorrow. On the economic front, it is non-farm payroll day in the US. Markets are very twitchy about the US economy and if the figures are worse than the 85,000 job losses predicted by consensus polls, it could be a bumpy afternoon. US unemployment is tipped to rise to 9.6% from 9.5%.INTERIMS Brammer, Catlin Group, Inmarsat, Logica, Old Mutual, PartyGaming, Royal Bank of Scotland, Stanley Gibbons, Tomkins INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE CareTech Holding, Chemring Group, Heavitree QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Consumer Credit (US) (20:00) Industrial Production (GER) (11:00) Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30) Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30) Q2 Inmarsat GMS Corero, Polo Resources, Renewable Power & Light EGMS Ruffer Investment Company Ltd. AGMS Alpha Tiger Property Trust, Carpathian, Majestic Wine, Pathfinder Minerals , Tanzanite One UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Industrial Production (09:30) Manufacturing Production (09:30) Producer Price Index (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Aurora Inv Trust, Establishment Inv Trust, F&C Global Smaller Companies, Halfords Group, Hyder Consulting, Invensys, Investment Company (The), Monks Inv Trust, Mothercare, Shanks Group, Telecom Plus, Vodafone Group, Walker Greenbank, Wincanton, Workspace Group