Thursday preview: US retail sales and jobless data eyed, Coca-Cola HBC interims due

12th Aug 2015 12:41

(ShareCast News) - US retail sales figures are on Thursday expected to show an improvement in July as the Federal Reserve looks for signs of economic growth before raising interest rates.The report from the Commerce Department is forecast to reveal retail sales climbed 0.6% last month, compared to a 0.3% fall in June.The Fed is widely expected to raise rates in September but has been monitoring economic data closely to make sure the US is ready to sustain its first hike in nine years. The retail sales data is important in gauging the confidence of consumer spending which accounts for almost 70% of gross GDP.The US will also see the release of weekly jobless claims. Analysts predict initial jobless claims remained at 270,000 in the week to 8 August.On the company front, Coca-Cola HBC reports its second quarter results.Goldman Sachs last week said the Coke bottler's profitability target looks unachievable as its sales are soft in Russia and Nigeria while profit margins are being squeezed. Numis on Wednesday said it sees a continuation of volatile conditions in many of the group's 28 territories in 2015. It predicts pre-tax profit at €117.5m, down from the previous year's €132m.Thursday 13 AugustINTERIMS Bankers Petroleum Ltd.(CDI), Cineworld Group, Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI), Derwent London, Ithaca Energy Inc. (DI), Michael Page International, Ophir Energy, Quarto Group Inc., X5 Retail Group NV GDR (Reg S)INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Business Inventories (US) (15:00) Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00) Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Import and Export Price Indexes (US) (13:30) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Manufacturing Inventories (US) (15:00) Retail Sales (US) (13:30) Retail Sales Inventories (US) (15:00)UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS RICS Housing Market Survey (09:30)TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Bankers Petroleum Ltd, Caledonia Mining Corporation, Grainger, Infinis Energy, Ithaca Energy Inc, Tui AG (UK), Zoopla Property Group (WI)AGMS DJI Holdings, John Laing Environmental Assets Group LimitedFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE IS SolutionsFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Ashtead Group, BT Group, Diageo, Greene King, Hayward Tyler Group, Iomart Group, Latchways, Maven Income And Growth VCT 6 , New Century AIM VCT, Pets at Home Group , PZ Cussons, SeverfieldINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE 4Imprint Group, Aberdeen UK Tracker Trust, BG Group, Direct Line Insurance Group, Ferrexpo, Fevertree Drinks, Fresnillo, GKN, IMI, Informa, Keller Group, Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate , Law Debenture Corp., Legal & General Group, Lloyds Banking Group, LSL Property Services, Man Group, Merlin Entertainments , Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Moneysupermarket.com Group, Pearson, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Rentokil Initial, Rio Tinto, RM, Schroders, Schroders (Non-Voting), Spirent Communications, Standard Chartered, VesuviusQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Blackrock North American Income Trust , Ediston Property Investment Company, GlaxoSmithKline, MedicX Fund Ltd., Picton Property Income Ltd, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B'