Tuesday preview: US housing data, Card Factory, AG Barr

The calendar for regularly-scheduled economic events is exceedingly light on Tuesday, with the main releases expected to be the US Federal Housing Finance Agency and S&P Case-Shiller's home price indices for the month of September.

America's Conference Board is also due out with its consumer confidence gauge for the month of September.

In the background meanwhile, policymakers at the Federal Reserve will begin the first of two days of deliberations, which are widely-expected to see them hike the target range for the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points to between 2.0% and 2.25%.

Nevertheless, what markets are most interested in is rate-setters's guidance for further hikes over the year ahead.

In any case, and barring surprises, financial markets are likely to remain in a 'holding pattern' ahead of the announcement.

Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member, Gertjan Vlieghe, is also set to speak, at 0940 BST at Imperial College Business School.

The corporate news-flow on the other hand is set to pick-up a tad on Tuesday as the earnings season draws nearer.

For Card Factory, analysts at UBS are forecasting first half profits before tax will slip from £26.3m one year ago to £23.5m, but that its interim dividend will be kept at 2.9p per share.

Thanks to new space, the Swiss broker is expecting the greetings card manufacturer to report a 3.2% rise in total sales, although gross margins are seen down again - by 100 basis points - due to foreign exchange headwinds and mix.

"Looking ahead, CF continues to look for product and range improvements, and the trial to supply some Aldi stores with a small range of cards looking interesting," analyst Andrew Hughes said in a research note sent to clients.

"Elsewhere, an update on the performance of new stores and on the Getting Personal strategy will be important."

AG Barr is also set to publish its latest interims, with the consensus having penciled-in sales growth of 5% to £136.0m.

Numis analyst Damian McNeela meanwhile had pegged operating profits at £18.2m, for a 9.3% jump in earnings per share to 12.8p thanks to the drink-maker's share buyback programme and a lower tax rate.

In particular, markets were likely to focus on what the company had tpo say regarding the impact of the sugar levy on both its own brands and on its competitors, the performance of its recently-added partnership brands and that of its new Big Willie Ginger beer.

Tuesday September 25

INTERIMS

Altitude Group, Animalcare Group, Card Factory, Ebiquity, Fireangel Safety Technology Group, Harvey Nash Group, Keystone Law Group , Learning Technologies Group , Mi-Pay Group, Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) , Moss Bros Group, Next, Osirium Technologies, Premier Technical Services Group , S&U, Sumo Group , WANdisco

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Mincon Group , Standard Life Aberdeen

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Total SA

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

House Price Index (US) (14:00)

FINALS

Blancco Technology Group, Close Brothers Group, Hotel Chocolat Group , Scancell Holdings, Swallowfield

AGMS

Avengardco Investments Public Ltd GDR, Liontrust Asset Management, Park Group, Scientific Digital Imaging, Versarien , WYG

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

One Media IP Group, United Utilities Group

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

BHP Billiton