Wednesday preview: BoE minutes, Severn Trent

19th Jul 2011 15:53

Wednesday sees the release of the minutes of the most recent minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and though it is assumed that voting on interest rate policy has become a bit of a non-event, Dr. Howard Archer, the seemingly omnipresent economist of forecasting agency I H S Global Insight, thinks the idea of a resumption of the Quantitative Easing (QE) programme to try to boost the spluttering economy could be gaining support."The stock of Quantitative Easing has been unchanged at £200 billion since February 2010; and, until recently, there had seemed little likelihood that the Bank of England could relax monetary policy further by engaging in more Quantitative Easing even though one MPC member, Adam Posen, has been repeatedly voting for a £50 billion rise to £250 billion," Dr. Archer writes."Indeed, until the last few weeks, attention had focused exclusively on when the Bank of England would start to tighten monetary policy through raising interest rates from the current record low level of 0.50% ... However, a recent extended series of weak data and surveys has significantly heightened concerns over the health of the economy and its ability to withstand the increasing fiscal squeeze," he added. The trading update from water company Severn Trent should not contain many surprises. The company may give an update on water consumption levels and its capital expenditure plans for the year."Given the impact on the capital programme in 2010/11 from the weather, our net capital expenditure ... for 2011/12 is expected to be higher year on year, in the range of £450m to £470m," the company said back in May. "Within that range, net infrastructure renewals expenditure will be in the region of £120m to £130m, reflecting our programme of leakage reduction and improvement to security of supply," it added.INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATECharter European Trust, Heavitree Brewery, Imperial Tobacco Group, Sanderson Group, THB GroupQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEEquity Partnership Inv Co Income SharesINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConvenience Store Sales (JPN)Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)Consumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)FINALSAEA Technology Group, ZetarIMSSSevern TrentSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBritish Smaller Companies VCT, iEnergizer Ltd.EGMSIrish Life & Permanent Group HoldingAGMSB.P. Marsh & Partners, Bedford Row VCT, BTG, Chariot Oil & Gas Ltd., Digital Barriers, Experian, Fitbug Holdings, Investment Company, IQE, Maven Income & Growth VCT, Renold, Rensburg AIM VCT, Severn TrentTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSGlanbia, Playtech Ltd.UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)Trends in Lending (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBig Yellow Group, Hasgrove, Home Retail Group, NewRiver Retail Ltd. (Reg S)FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEBritish Smaller Companies VCT, Castings, Fidelity China Special Situations , Halma, ICAP, Kewill, Mulberry Group, PME African Infrastructure Opportunities--jh