Week ahead: ECB, Fedspeak in focus

The European Central Bank will likely dominate the headlines over the coming week, as rate-setters in Frankfurt meet on Thursday to decide on policy.

And this time around, ECB chief Mario Draghi's press conference and presser will take place against a backdrop of recent significant volatility in Italian sovereign debt and perhaps also of some signs of contagion to other euro area periphery debt markets as well as to some so-called 'semi-core' sovereigns, such as Spain.

Nevertheless, recent losses in Spanish debt probably also have much to do with the new government's more expansive (arguably too much so) fiscal policies ahead of what some believe will be an election year, in 2019.

Against that backdrop, investors will also be closely watching Rome's reply, on Monday, to Brussels's queries regarding its own fiscal plans.

On Friday meanwhile, Standard&Poor's is set to weigh-in with the conclusions of its review of Italy's sovereign debt, which some economists believe will see the ratings agency downgrade its outlook for the same from "stable" to "negative".

That same day, S&P and Fitch are also expected to publish their ratings reviews for the UK.

The economic data calendar in Britain will otherwise be quite sparse, although on Tuesday Bank of England chief economist, Andrew Haldane, and Governor Mark Carney are scheduled to give speeches at 12:30 BST and 17:20 BST, respectively.

Stateside, the week will be back-end loaded, with a preliminary reading on third quarter GDP set for release on Friday. The Fed's latest Beige Book, on Tuesday, will also draw some attention.

There is also a big line-up of Fed speakers ahead, with at least nine top US central bank officials slated to take to the podium over the coming week, including recently-appointed vice-president, Richard Clarida, on Thursday.

The calendar for US Treasury auctions is also on the heavy side and may weigh on the short-end of the interest rate curve in particular.

Further afield, policy-makers at Indonesia's central bank are set to meet to decide on rates on Tuesday, followed by their peers in Moscow on Friday.

Rate-setters at Norway's Norges bank will meet on Thursday.

Monday October 22

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Standard Chartered

ANNUAL REPORT

Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI)

AGMS

City of London Investment Group, CPL Resources, Vast Resources, Zibao Metals Recycling Holdings

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

PCF Group

Tuesday October 23

INTERIMS

1Spatial, Bloomsbury Publishing, Whitbread

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Pendragon, Playtech, The Simplybiz Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Q3

Bunzl, Travis Perkins

IMSS

Reckitt Benckiser Group

AGMS

Aberforth Split Level Income Trust , Coral Products, Mcbride, Mirada, OPG Power Ventures, Vela Technologies

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Anglo American, Mcbride, Plus500 Ltd (DI), St James's Place

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

CBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Renishaw

Wednesday October 24

INTERIMS

Stobart Group Ltd., U And I Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

BBGI SICAV S.A. (DI), Hunting

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Howden Joinery Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

House Price Index (US) (14:00)

M3 Money Supply (EU) (09:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)

Q3

Antofagasta, Avast, Barclays, Fresnillo, Metro Bank

GMS

IndigoVision Group

FINALS

Image Scan Holdings

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Hargreave Hale AIM VCT

AGMS

Beeks Financial Cloud Group, Dekeloil Public Ltd, Photo-Me International, Redde

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Antofagasta, Image Scan Holdings, Tatton Asset Management

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

BBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)

Thursday October 25

INTERIMS

Air Partner, Braemar Shipping Services

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

AIREA, Capital & Regional, GVC Holdings, Oakley Capital Investments Ltd. (DI)

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Aberdeen New Thai Inv Trust, Animalcare Group, Coats Group, Hansa Trust, Harwood Wealth Management Group, ITV, M&C Saatchi, Next Fifteen Communications, Rolls-Royce Holdings, S&U, Smart Metering Systems, Walker Greenbank, William Hill

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Fair Oaks Income Limited 2014 Shs NPV, Fair Oaks Income Limited 2017 Shs NPV, General Electric Co

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Custodian Reit , M Winkworth

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30)

ECB Interest Rate (EU) (12:45)

GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (08:00)

IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)

IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)

IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00)

Q3

Evraz, Lloyds Banking Group, Mail.ru Group Ltd GDR (Reg S), Novolipetsk Steel GDS (Reg S), Relx plc

FINALS

Debenhams, RDI Reit

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Artemis VCT, Bioventix

AGMS

1pm, Alumasc Group, Filtronic, Goldplat, Green & Smart Holdings, Mattioli Woods, Octagonal, Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd GDR (Reg S), Premaitha Health, South32 Limited (DI) , Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hastings Group Holdings , WPP

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Avingtrans, Bioventix, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, El Oro Ltd, Ferguson, Haynes Publishing Group, Joules Group, JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust, Mulberry Group, TR European Growth Trust, Wetherspoon (J.D.)

Friday October 26

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Advanced Medical Solutions Group, Barr (A.G.), Central Asia Metals, Dignity, Equiniti Group , Flowtech Fluidpower, Global Ports Holding, Hansteen Holdings, HGCapital Trust, John Laing Group , JPMorgan Russian Securities, JTC, Keystone Law Group , Keywords Studios, Medica Group , Midwich Group, Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) , Premier Technical Services Group , Smurfit Kappa Group, Strix Group , Trans-Siberian Gold, Xpediator

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Real Estate Investors, Standard Life Private Equity Trust, Value and Income Trust

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

GDP (Preliminary) (US) (13:30)

U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)

Q3

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI), Royal Bank of Scotland Group

IMSS

Pendragon

AGMS

Argos Resources Ltd. (DI), K3 Capital Group , Paternoster Resources, Springfield Properties , Springfield Properties

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Glencore

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Consort Medical, Dart Group, Eckoh, Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd. (DI), IG Group Holdings, Mattioli Woods, Octagonal