Big earnings, BoE and non-farm as October transitions into November

As October turns into November there’s a lot for investors to deal with – on top of an already worryingly long list of macro-worries – including a Bank of England rate vote, the latest non-farm jobs report and a series of big name earnings updates.

UK
The UK hasn’t got a lot on at the end of October data-wise, saving the interesting figures for the first couple days of November. Thursday sees the latest manufacturing PMI, alongside the Bank of England rate vote and inflation report, while Friday brings the construction PMI.

All that will likely be overshadowed, however, by a stacked earnings calendar. HSBC continues the run of banking updates on Monday, with BP and Reckitt Benckiser reporting on Tuesday. Wednesday then brings Standard Chartered, GlaxoSmithKline and Next; Thursday BT Group, Just Eat, Shell, Schroders and Shire; and Friday Glencore. There’s lot of FTSE 100 firms in that list, which, dependant on the general market sentiment, could dictate a decent chunk of the index’s movement.

US
There is a bit more of an even spread of data in the US economic calendar this week. The Fed-favourite core PCE price index is on Monday, with the CB consumer confidence reading on Tuesday, the ADP non-farm number on Wednesday, Markit and ISM manufacturing PMIs on Thursday and, most importantly, the non-farm jobs report on Friday. All of these figures will likely be viewed with December’s Federal Reserve meeting in mind, with investors on the lookout for anything that’ll through the central bank off its current rate-hiking path.

The week’s earnings calendar is no slouch either. Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Pfizer, eBay and Facebook (more below) are on Tuesday, with General Motors, Kellogg and Sprint on Wednesday. Thursday is then an absolute doozy, with market newbie Spotify, Kraft Heinz, DowDuPoint and, drumroll, Apple all reporting. Friday then wraps up, or should that be revs up, with Chevron.

Eurozone
The Eurozone isn’t quite as exciting this week. The German and region-wide inflation readings are on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, with a French and Italian bank holiday on Thursday then followed by Friday’s manufacturing PMIs. Any update on the Italian budget situation, however, could see the region dominate once again.

Stock of the week: Facebook Inc – Q3 Results
While Facebook’s Q2 earnings beat estimates, at $1.74 per share against the $1.72 forecast, it missed in a lot of other key areas. Despite rising an eye-catching 42% year-on-year to $13.23 billion, that was still below the $13.36 billion expected. Similarly, daily active users may have jumped 11% to 1.47 billion, but that was nevertheless shy of the 1.49 billion sought by analysts.

Crucially quarter-on-quarter DAU growth was flat in the US, and actually declined in Europe, a concern given they are the company’s largest advertising markets. Related, the firm warned that total revenue growth rates would ‘continue to decelerate in the second half of 2018’, with a ‘high single digit’ percentage decline from prior quarters in both Q3 and Q4.

In terms of Tuesday’s Q3 figures, analysts are looking for a 14.8% rise in EPS to $7.07 alongside a 36.4% jump in revenue to $55.43 billion.

• UK 100
• Wall Street
• Cable
• Gold

Open (Monday)

7015.7

Close (Thursday)

6958.7

Change

-0.81%

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7115.3

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6886.2

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25357.0

Close (Thursday)

24839.0

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-2.04%

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25575.6

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24530.6

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1.30656

Close (Thursday)

1.28219

Change

-1.87%

High

1.30902

Low

1.27973

Open (Monday)

1230.2

Close (Thursday)

1234.2

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+0.33%

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1243.0

Low

1222.9