Tuesday preview: US-China trade, Easyjet in the spotlight

The market spotlight on Tuesday will continue to be on the headlines around the ongoing US-China trade talks.

That is especially true following reports during the previous session that officials in Beijing have grown "pessimistic" about the likelihood of reaching a preliminary trade deal.

According to CNBC, China had believed that an agreement in principle had been reached on rolling back trade levies, only for the White House to later say that nothing had been decided.

Against that backdrop, the main economic release of the session will be figures on US housing starts referencing the month of October.

In the UK meanwhile, at 1100 GMT the Confederation of British Industry will release the results of its Industrial Trends survey for November.

Further afield, in Australia the central bank is due to publish the minutes of its most recent policy meeting, while in Japan data on the country's foreign trade in goods during the month of October is scheduled to be published.

EasyJet will figure large in the corporate space in the UK on Tuesday as the low-cost carrier reports its latest full-year figures.

With the company's shares having recovered by over 40.0% from their most recent 52-week lows, investors will be keen to know whether the company is planning to go down the package holiday route following the purchase of Thomas Cook's take-off and landing slots at Gatwick and Bristol airports, said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK.

The carrier's load factor fell to 91.5% in the back half of 2019, but it remained evident that overcapacity continued to plague the sector, although forward bookings were seen in line with expectations, helped in part by the collapse of Thomas Cook, Hewson added.

Strikes at British Airways and Ryanair meanwhile had helped drive a better-than-expected increase in total revenues per seat for the second half of 0.8%.

"CEO Johan Lundgren used to work for TUI Travel and there is some speculation that he may look to point Easyjet in the direction of the package holiday market," said Hewson.

"Whether that is a wise move is open to debate, however the collapse of Thomas Cook ought to be a reminder that maybe it isn’t, and maybe Easyjet should stick to what its good at."

Tuesday November 19

INTERIMS

Big Yellow Group, CML Microsystems, EasyJet, Halma, Homeserve, Palace Capital , Scapa Group, SRT Marine Systems, Telecom Plus, Trifast

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Building Permits (US) (20:30)

Current Account (EU) (09:00)

Housing Starts (US) (13:30)

Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Q3

MHP SE GDR (Reg S)

AGMS

BMO Real Estate Investments Limited, Dunelm Group, Jupiter UK Growth Investment Trust, Petro Matad Ltd., Physiomics