Thursday preview: ECB, Rentokil in focus

All eyes on Thursday will be firmly on the European Central Bank as its governing council meets to decide on policy.

Economists at Barclays Research said clients should not expect any changes, with its boss, Christine Lagarde, likely to reiterate her determination to maintain favourable financing conditions.

Neither did Barclays anticipate that any further details on the ECB's policy framework would be forthcoming.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, was of a similar mind, but cautioned that there was ample room for missteps when it came to the ECB's communications.

"This ought to be a quiet one for the ECB, but the propensity for miscommunication is strong," Wilson said.

"So we look rather to the risk that a hawkishness creeps in. The ECB will need to be careful about getting itself tied in knots about when and how it will exit PEPP just yet, and whether a PEPP taper coincides with raising traditional asset purchases [...]

"Now is not the time for such debates [...]."

Stateside meanwhile, the spotlight will be on weekly initial jobless claims data, with financial markets keen to see to what degree the sharp drop during the previous week reversed or not.

On home shores meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry is scheduled to release its Industrial Trends survey at 1100 BST.

For disinfection and pest control specialist Rentokil's first quarter results, UBS's Nicole Manion is forecasting a "relatively "strong" start to the year.

Nevertheless, while the contribution to sales from disinfection services was expected to have extended into the first three months of the year, her estimates called for a "dramatic fade" over the remainder of 2021.

Revenues from that business were seen declining to only £10m by the final quarter of the year.

For the first quarter on the other hand, she pegged disinfection revenues at £75m, for total growth in Hygiene sales of over 50%.

Full-year organic growth in pest control meanwhile was seen at more than 5%, albeit weighted towards the backhalf of the year due to the impact of business closures on commercial Pest at the beginning of the year.

Thursday 22 April

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

JpMorgan China Growth & Income , M Winkworth

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

ECB Interest Rate (EU) (12:45)

Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

GMS

National Grid

FINALS

Avacta Group, Deltex Medical Group, Jadestone Energy Inc NPV (DI)

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Highcroft Investment, Sabre Insurance Group

EGMS

GLI Finance Limited

AGMS

Aggreko, Bidstack Group , CLS Holdings, CVC Credit Partners European Opportunities Ltd GBP, Dev Clever Holdings, Domino's Pizza Group, Foxtons Group , Ibstock , Jarvis Securities, JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust, MD Medical Group Investments GDR (Reg S), Relx plc, SEGRO, SThree, Taylor Wimpey

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

AJ Bell, Anglo American, Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI), Rentokil Initial, SEGRO, Taylor Wimpey

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Aggreko, Antofagasta, BAE Systems, Belvoir Group, Bodycote, Drax Group, Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust, Essentra, Fresnillo, Genuit Group, Highcroft Investment, Hunting, JPMorgan American Inv Trust, Luceco , M. P. Evans Group, Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT, Merchants Trust, Quixant, Rathbone Brothers, Sabre Insurance Group, Secure Trust Bank, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Tclarke , Tyman, Uniphar (CDI), Vitec Group

Q1

Novolipetsk Steel GDS (Reg S)