Wednesday preview: Spending review, Home Retail, Bank of England minutes

19th Oct 2010 16:52

The government's keenly awaited comprehensive spending review is published on Wednesday, with the emphasis expected to be firmly on cuts in public spending.The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has set a target of cutting the structural deficit - the bit that is not subject to cyclical patterns - to zero by fiscal 2015/16.The expectations are that the government will seek to cut just over three quarters of the budget deficit through spending cuts, with the rest to be raised through increased tax revenues. That contrasts with the previous government's preference for a two-thirds/one-thirds split, though now that Labour is led by Ed Milliband, the Labour party's preference appears to be for a 50/50 split, for fear that excessive spending cuts will derail the economy's fragile recovery.Home Retail has already warned that it had a poor second quarter so there should not be any nasty surprises in the interim figures. Trading at Argos was weak but DIY retailer Homebase continues to prosper. Argos sales fell 5% in the second quarter, following a 8.1% decline in the first quarter. Sales of furniture and large ticket items were poor. TV sales were strong but Argos still lost market share. The weak trading continues in the third quarter and margins are falling. Like-for-like sales were flat at Homebase. Gross margins declined slightly but that was mainly down to foreign exchange pressures. Broker Singer predicts interim pre-tax profit of £94m and earnings per share of 7.5p. Home Retail was relegated from the FTSE 100 in the recent quarterly changes. The Bank of England interest rate minutes will be published and give further indications about views on whether or not interest rates should be increased and the moves towards further economic stimulus. INTERIMSHome Retail Group, Stobart Group INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAdmiral Group, Aggreko, Amiad Filtration Systems Ltd., Fyffes, Highcroft Investment, Premier Farnell, PV Crystalox SolarINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEBAE Systems, BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust, Bloomsbury Publishing, Brit Insurance Holdings NV, British Polythene Industries, C&C Group, Game Group, Lookers, Mears Group, Octopus AIM VCT, Scisys, Spectris, Ted Baker, Travis Perkins, Walker GreenbankQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATECity of London Inv TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBeige Book Fed Survey (US) (19:00)Building Permits (US) (13:30)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)Convenience Store Sales (JPN)Q3Qatar Telecom QSC GDR (Reg S)GMSBrinkley MiningANNUAL REPORTWebis HoldingsSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAdmiral GroupSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Inv TrustAGMSBilling Services Group Ltd., Emerging Metals Ltd., Namibian ResourcesUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)M4 Money Supply (estimate) (09:30)M4 Sterling Lending (estimate) (09:30)Public Sector Finances (09:30)Trends in Lending (09:30)Spending ReviewFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEWeatherly InternationalFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Inv Trust, British Sky Broadcasting Group, Hays, London Finance & Investment Group, Smiths Group, Stavert Zigomala, Strategic Equity Capital, Thorpe (F.W.), Ultimate Finance Group