Friday preview: Monthly US jobs report, RBS in focus

All eyes at the end of the week will be on the monthly US non-farm payrolls report for July, albeit alongside a raft of other key indicators.

A slowdown to a less frenetic pace of hiring has long been considered to be on the cards but if significantly larger than expected that might concern traders.

Consensus is calling for non-farm payrolls to rise by 160,000 following an increase of 224,000 for June with the unemployment rate seen steady at 3.7%.

The rate of increase in average hourly earnings meanwhile is seen picking up from 3.1% in June to 3.2% for last month and the length of the average work week is expected to be unchanged at 34.4 hours.

Also due out in the States are readings on durable goods orders and foreign trade for the month of June and a final reading on the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index for July.

Across the Channel meanwhile, the only significant economic reports due out are those on euro area producer prices and retail sales covering the month of June.

No major economic releases are expected in the UK.

And on the corporate side of things, perhaps the most closely-watched set of quarterly results at the end of the week will be those from Royal Bank of Scotland.

UBS's Jason Napier is anticipating a 4.0% quarter-on-quarter increase in the lender's second quarter profits before tax to reach £1.3bn, although that would still be 17.0% below their year ago level.

The dividend payout on the other hand was set to rise to 7.50 per share split between 5.0p in special dividends and 2.5p as a regular payment, leaving a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 16.6%.

"We see the RBS investment thesis as pretty straightforward and predominantly driven by progress in defending margin in a low rate environment, reducing group costs and returning excess capital via open-market and off-market share buybacks," Napier said in a research note sent to clients.

Friday August 02

INTERIMS

AIREA, BT Group, Essentra, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI), Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore Reg), Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd. (Singapore), Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Heavitree Brewery, Heavitree Brewery 'A' Shares

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

BMO UK High Income Trust , British Land Company, Scottish Inv Trust

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (US) (13:30)

Factory Orders (US) (15:00)

Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)

Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)

Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)

Q2

Royal Bank of Scotland Group

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

BMO UK High Income Trust B Shares

AGMS

ADM Energy , Etalon Group GDR (Reg S), Highbridge Multi-Strategy Fund GBP Shares

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pets at Home Group , Royal Bank of Scotland Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

PMI Construction (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Aquila Services Group, Aveva Group, B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI), Brown (N.) Group, Burberry Group, Caffyns, Cake Box Holdings, De La Rue, Henderson Alternative Strategies Trust , Hibernia Reit , Homeserve, iEnergizer Ltd., Norcros, Octopus AIM VCT, Prime People, System1 Group, TalkTalk Telecom Group , Telecom Plus, ULS Technology , Vodafone Group, Wincanton, Workspace Group