THE WEEK AHEAD
COMPANY NEWS
• Today, Alcoa reports its first quarter earnings. This will give traders indications to what extent higher commodity prices are feeding through into profits. Alcoa is the world’s largest miner of bauxite and refiner of alumina.
• Also today, beleaguered BP will host an EGM, while on Thursday it will have to face investors again at its AGM. Expect crude language.
• On Wednesday, the Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio will hold its AGM. Major investors will be scooting over to Italy to have their say.
COMPANY NEWS
• On Thursday, Nestle will be holding its AGM. Management will be hoping that investors are still sweet on the Swiss company.
• Rio Tinto, the fourth-largest publicly listed mining company in the world, will host its AGM on Thursday. Up over 12 per cent on the year, Rio Tinto has been a good place to extract decent profits.
• Also on Thursday, WH Smith will announce its interim results. The first ever chain store company in the world has been trading since 1792.
• Gambling company Ladbrokes will be betting on good results when it delivers its interim results on Friday.
MARKET NEWS
• At 7am today, Sir John Vickers head of the Independent Commission on Banking will publish its interim report. A further round of consultation will follow.
• The Confused.com and Towers Watson car price index is also published today.
• On Tuesday at 9.30am, CPI figures for March will be released. The CPI figures announced last month for February showed a rise from 4 to 4.4 per cent.
• l Also on Tuesday, RICS will deliver its housing market survey. Supply is outstripping demand, so houses are likely to fall further.
POLITICAL NEWS
• From today the burqa ban comes into force in France.
• On Wednesday, the international contact group on Libya will meet in Doha. William Hague will be clocking up the air miles as he will also be attending a Nato meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
• On Thursday and Friday, finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 will consider ways to create sustainable and balanced growth in the world economy. They are asking the wrong people.
• On Friday, North Korea will celebrate the 99th birthday of the deceased “Eternal President” Kim Il-Sung. Not sure why.