Wednesday preview: China trade data, ITV, Imperial Brands

The focus in the middle of the week will continue to be firmly on the People's Republic of China, with data covering the Asian giant's foreign trade during the month of April set for release.

Linked to the above, before the market open in London, a reading on German industrial production during the month of March is also scheduled for release.

Further afield, policymakers in Thailand and New Zealand are set to meet to decide on rates.

No major economic releases are scheduled in the UK or US, although investors will be keeping an eye out for any fresh news regarding talks between the government and Labour.

In the corporate space meanwhile, ITV and Imperial Brands are among the companies which are set to update shareholders.

For ITV's first quarter trading update, analysts at Citi are forecasting sales of £734m (consensus: £729m), with total advertising sales set to be 6.7% lower (consensus: -7.0%).

Ad sales were also likely to fall over the second quarter, the same analysts said, pointing to the difficult comparables for June of up by 22%.

For his part, Numis's Seve Liechti chipped in saying: "Shares remain in the doldrums and look relatively cheap in our view given Brexit uncertainty and mid-term structural fears over streaming competition."

In the case of Imperial Brands meanwhile, JP Morgan is anticipating first half earnings per share of 111.3p, putting them 1% below the Vuma consensus.

Analyst Celine Pannuti said she was "cautious" on the medium-term outlook for the outfit, given its need to reinvest in next generation products in order to match its peers.

However, in the short-term the Western European cigarette market market was proving resilient and the relative valuation gap had continued to widen, she said.

On Pannuti's estimates, Imperial Brands was trading at about eight times 2020 earnings, versus 11 times for competitors.

She also pointed to a recent positive signal for value stocks.

Wednesday May 08

INTERIMS

Elegant Hotels Group , Imperial Brands , Jyske Bank A/S

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

British American Tobacco, Mercantile Investment Trust (The)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

Factory Orders (GER) (07:00)

Industrial Production (GER) (07:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS

Cyanconnode Holdings, JZ Capital Partners Ltd, Keystone Law Group , Osirium Technologies, Smartspace Software , Vertu Motors

AGMS

Caledonia Mining Corporation (DI), Cello Health, Charles Taylor, Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd. (Singapore), EMIS Group, Forbidden Technologies, Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI), GlaxoSmithKline, Grafton Group Units, Henderson High Income Trust, Hongkong Land Holding Ltd. (Sing.Reg), Independent Oil & Gas , Indivior, ITV, Johnson Service Group, Mandarin Oriental International (Singapore), Mobeus Income & Growth Vct, Morgan Sindall Group, Oakley Capital Investments Ltd. (DI), Rentokil Initial, Savills, SIG, Standard Chartered, Team17 Group, Ten Entertainment Group , Travis Perkins, Travis Perkins

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Direct Line Insurance Group, ITV, Travis Perkins

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

CareTech Holding, Dalata Hotel Group, Smith & Nephew

Q1

Apax Global Alpha Limited