Thursday preview: US non-farm payrolls and ECB in focus

2nd Jul 2014 18:01

The Thursday session will bring with it a torrent of economic data and events. Foremost amongst those will be the monthly US non-farm payrolls report, which may have a large bearing on investors' interest rate expectations. Alongside that report, and also in the US, traders will tune in to the latest ISM services sector figures, weekly jobless claims data and international trade numbers. In the UK Markit will release the results of its latest service sector purchasing managers' survey. Regarding the importance of said number, Jameel Ahmad, Chief Market Analyst at FXTM, explained to clients that "On Thursday morning, the latest UK services PMI's are announced. The UK services sector is the largest UK GDP component and employs around 80% of the UK workforce. Only last week, BoE Governor Carney stated that a potential interest rate hike would be economic data driven, while hinting that a UK unemployment rate below 6% might influence the decision."Even more relevant, the European Central Bank (ECB) will hold its monetary policy meeting. Back on the corporate front, investors are awaiting the final results from two consumer-facing FTSE 250 groups, Poundland and Greene King.CMC's Michael Hewson points out that Poundland's share price has slipped below the 300p of its IPO, as investors begin to scrutinise its business model. Hence, this week's trading update is likely to be significant as to whether or not we once again see the heady heights of 370p, where we were at the beginning of June.As for Greene King, broker N+1 Singer points out that investors are likely to focus heavily on the company's growth road-map to 2020. Thursday July 03INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEIncome & Growth VCTINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Trade (US) (13:30)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)ECB Interest Rate (EU) (12:45)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)ISM Non-Manufacturing (US) (15:00)ISM Services (US) (15:00)Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)PMI Composite (GER) (08:55)PMI Services (EU) (09:00)PMI Services (GER) (08:55)Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)GMSViaLogyFINALSAccsys Technologies, Greene King, NCC Group, Poundland GroupSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATETaylor WimpeyAGMSC&C Group, City Merchants High Yield Trust, Distil, Emblaze Ltd., Great Portland Estates, JPMorgan Income & Capital Inv Trust, JPMorgan Income & Capital Inv Trust Units, Shires Income, Summit Corporation, ViperaTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSGoals Soccer CentresUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSOfficial Reserves (09:30)PMI Composite (09:30)PMI Services (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBrammer, Cineworld Group, Mears Group, NMC HealthAB