Thursday preview: ABF releases interims, Eurozone CPI due out

15th Jan 2014 14:40

Associated British Foods (ABF), Ladbrokes, Home Retail and Ocado will be among a slate of London-listed companies out with results on Thursday.In the period from September 15th to date, ABF's results are likely to be driven by its retail arm Primark, according to Numis. "Primark - due to add 1m more sq ft of selling space this full year and with the first of five planned stores opened in France on December 16th - will be the key growth engine, with solid ECIT progress also expected from Grocery," the analyst said.In December the FTSE 100 firm said trading for the first two months had been "in line with expectations with Primark seeing further like-for-like growth. A weak note for the group is expected to be Sugar due to lower European prices. "At current levels the shares trade on 25.0x for fiscal year 2013/2014 and yield 1.3% on our estimates so unless the 'similar' EPS flagged up proves wildly conservative (and it is still early days for this fiscal year) there is a lot already being discounted, including Primark's continuing success."Turning to economic data later on will be the release of German, Eurozone and US inflation figures. The Eurozone numbers are being watched particularly closely now by investors.Precisely in that regard, in remarks on Wednesday afternoon European Central Bank (ECB) Governing council member Yves Mersch indicated that most risks [as pertain to the outlook for inflation in the Eurozone] currently under discussion are downside risks. He was not warning of immediate deflation risks or anything such as that. However, he did say he expects inflation to remain "low" for a "prolonged period." For their part, this is what they had to say today over at Capital Economics on the subject of hypothetical deflation risks in the Eurozone: "the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to take further policy action, perhaps including the belated adoption of quantitative easing, in an attempt to support the region's fragile recovery and head off deflation risks. "But while negative inflation may be avoided at the aggregate level, sharp falls in prices in some of the heavily indebted peripheral economies will hinder their fiscal consolidation efforts and maintain the danger of a renewed bout of market instability." A raft of Japanese data is also due out overnight. In this country too investors are increasingly watching incoming readings on inflation, while also keeping one eye on activity indicators so as to better gauge the efficacy, or lack thereof, of the Bank of Japan's stimulus. The European Central Bank (ECB) will also publish its monthly bulletin after last week announcing it would keep its policy on hold. Thursday January 16thINTERIMSNCC GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEHyder Consulting, Octopus AIM VCT, Tarsus GroupINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)ECB Report (EU) (09:00)Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)New Car Registrations (EU) (10:00)Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00)Speech President US Federal Reserve bank of WilliamsSpeech Fed Chairman BernankeCore machinery orders (JP)ANNUAL REPORTCardiff PropertyIMSSAssociated British Foods, C&C Group, Experian, Halfords Group, Home Retail GroupDRILLING REPORTPremier OilSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAvanti CapitalAGMSCambria Automobiles, Cardiff Property, Plant ImpactTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBovis Homes Group, Dixons Retail , Ladbrokes, Mothercare, Ocado Group, Premier OilUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSRICS Housing Market Survey (09:30)RD