THE WEEK AHEAD
COMPANY NEWS
● Today, Michael Page International announces. Michael Page is an expert in professional services recruitment, itself employing more than 3,800 people in over 152 offices and 32 countries worldwide.
● Resolution announces tomorrow. It is led by founder Clive Cowdery and John Tiner, who was chief executive of the FSA between September 2003 and July 2007. Ocean Wilsons also announces on Tuesday. It is a leading supplier of maritime services in Brazil and holds a portfolio of internationally listed investments – shareholders will hope everything is going swimmingly.
● On Wednesday, Eurasian Natural Resources, Balfour Beatty and Henderson announce. All have invested their reputations on unearthing good results.
● London Capital Group also announces on Wednesday. It was founded in London in 1996 as a proprietary trading business and in 2003 underwent a major restructuring to become a leading player in financial spread betting with the launch of Capital Spreads.
● On Friday, Jupiter Fund Management will be hoping for astronomical results when it announces. Jupiter is a UK fund management group, managing equity and bond investments for private and institutional investors.
● Anglo-Eastern Plantations also announces on Friday. It was formed and floated on the LSE in 1985 to acquire and develop four estates in North Sumatra, a province of Indonesia, previously owned by several UK based plantation companies.
ECONOMICS NEWS
● Tomorrow, the Eurozone’s second quarter GDP results will be released. In the first quarter they came in at 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 2.5 per cent year-on-year. Bad results would worry the markets greatly.
● The UK will release RPI and CPI inflation figures tomorrow. Last month RPI was running at 5 per cent, while CPI was at 4.2 per cent. The Bank of England has largely given up on its 2 per cent target, but Mervyn King will still have fingers crossed that they are lower.
● The Bank of England will release its minutes on Wednesday. Minutes from the MPC meetings are always published two weeks after the interest rate decision. They give an account of the policy discussion, including differences of view, recording the votes of the individual members of the committee.
POLITICAL NEWS
● A lot is happening tomorrow. Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel will meet in Paris to discuss the economic governance of the 17-nation Eurozone. Collaboration has so far proved unsuccessful.
● US Vice President Joe Biden will depart on a tour of China, Japan and Mongolia tomorrow. He will meet both Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu to discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
● Also on Tuesday, two more recall elections for the Wisconsin state senate will occur. After last week’s challenge against Republican incumbents, next Tuesday will see two Democrat senators facing challenges. The small election has attracted attention across America after governor Walker’s anti-union legislation brought in thousands of protesters.