Tuesday preview: Alphabet, BP and US-China trade in focus

The focus at the end of the month will be on the start of the next round of US-China trade talks in Beijing, with investors looking for signs that a deal remains on track, or otherwise.

Against that backdrop, overnight markets in Asia will get the first to respond to the latest monthly reading on the 'official' China manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index.

Sentiment readings on UK businesses and consumers meanwhile are due out at midnight on Monday, in the form of survey compiler GfK's consumer confidence index and Lloyds business barometre, both covering the month of April.

Stateside, all eyes will be on Google parent Alphabet as it reports its latest set of quarterly results after the close of trading on Wall Street, on Monday.

In terms of data, the focus in the US on Tuesday will be on the MNI Chicago factory PMI, alongside readings on pending home sales in March and the S&P Case Shiller home price index for February.

Across the Channel meanwhile, the spotlight will be on the latest figures for euro area joblessness and GDP, together with a reading on German unemployment for April and on German consumer confidence for May.

Regarding the GDP report, according to analysts at Barclays Research, recent data releases were pointing to a possible upside surprise in the Spanish economy at the start of the year.

The consensus forecast was for a quarter-on-quarter pace of growth of 0.6%, but the above releases had pointed to a pace of expansion closer to 0.75%, the investment bank said.

Among the UK corporate heavyweights set to update markets on Tuesday are BP, Glencore and StanChart.

For the former, analysts at RBC Capital were at $2.2bn for the outfit's first quarter net income, versus the company-compiled consensus of $2.3bn, representing a 36% drop quarter-on-quarter after an especially strong showing in the last three months of 2018.

Among the various moving parts were lower volumes and commodity prices impacting on the upstream segment and weaker refining in downstream, together with stronger realisations of Canadian heavy crude after weak ones boosted that segment's results over the previous quarter, the Canadian broker said.

Higher maintenance and weaker refining also meant underlying cash flow from operations was set to weaken sequentially, the analysts added.

Maintenance in the Gulf of Mexico would push pre-IFRS 16 cash flow from operations to $6.2bn, RBC said, before accounting for $300m for payments linked to the disastrous Macondo oil spill.

Before IFRS 16, gearing should be about flat in comparison to the last quarter of 2018, coming in at between 33-34% on a post IFRS 16 basis "which may remind investors of BP’s leverage relative to peers and the need to complete asset sales".

"Importantly, at current commodity prices we would expect BP to de-gear quickly in 2H19."

Tuesday April 30

INTERIMS

C4X Discovery Holdings , Image Scan Holdings

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Abbey, Ferguson, Manchester & London Investment Trust, RIT Capital Partners, Tristel

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

BMO Private Equity Trust, Ediston Property Investment Company, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund Limited

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chicago PMI (US) (14:45)

Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00)

GDP (Preliminary) (EU) (10:00)

Import Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00)

Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55)

FINALS

Animalcare Group, Dillistone Group, Inspiration Healthcare Group , Novacyt S.A. (CDI), Xeros Technology Group

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Billing Services Group Ltd., Royal Bank of Scotland Group

AGMS

AFC Energy, Anglo American, Aquis Exchange , BBGI SICAV S.A. (DI), Countrywide, e-Therapeutics, Elementis, Grupo Clarin SA GDR (Reg S), Hammerson, Independent News & Media, JPMorgan US Smaller Co. Inv Tst, LSL Property Services, Maven Income and Growth VCT 5, Proteome Sciences, Scotgems, Symphony International Holdings Ltd., Weir Group

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Essentra, Greene King, PPHE Hotel Group Ltd

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nationwide House Price Index (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

CRH, HGCapital Trust, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Sureserve Group, Wynnstay Group

Q1

BP, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (ATT) GDR (Reg S)