Week ahead: Non-farm payrolls and UK retail results to steal the show

LONDON (ShareCast) - Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) week is set to be a busy one for financial markets in London with investors having to digest a flurry of global economic data and corporate results from a number of prominent UK retailers. The focus is likely to continue to be on US economic indicators, given recent concerns about a slowdown in growth in the first quarter.

The US employment report will be the big release of the week on Friday, given ongoing speculation about the timing of the first rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The consensus forecast is for non-farm payrolls of 250,000 in March, down from 295,000 the previous month, while the jobless rate is predicted to remain unchanged at 5.5% after dropping from 5.7% the previous month.

However, as analysts at Danske Bank (LSE: 0NVC.L - news) explained, markets are likely to pay close attention to the average hourly earnings component of the report. "Wage inflation is still subdued and we would expect to see a pick-up soon, as the labour market improvement advances," they said.

In the corporate world, high street stalwart Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSF - news) , DIY retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) and online fashion seller Asos (LSE: ASC.L - news) will be among the companies reporting figures next week, with markets waiting to see how the recent drop in inflation and low fuel costs are affecting consumer spending.

Kingfisher reports its annual results on Tuesday with pre-tax profit forecast to fall around 10% to £683m in the year ended 31 January 2015, as weakness in France and Poland offsets strong growth in the UK, particularly at Screwfix.

Asos is next up on Wednesday with its interims with the focus likely to be on the bottom line. Earlier this month, the retailer impressed with a strong acceleration in sales growth in the second quarter, but said margins had fallen sharply due to price investments and the roll-out of 'zonal pricing'. Zonal pricing allows the group to set localised prices dependent on local conditions, which aims to give protection against FX movements.

Thursday will see the release of M&S's fourth-quarter trading update and UBS (NYSEArca: FBGX - news) is looking for a 2% fall in general merchandise like-for-like sales and a flat performance in food. For the non-food division in particular, this would represent a much better showing than the third quarter in which LFL sales plunged 5.8%.

Monday March 30 INTERIMS Quadrise Fuels International (LSE: QFI.L - news) INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Mountview Estates INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00) Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00) Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00) Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30) Personal Income (US) (13:30) Personal Spending (US) (13:30) GMS (Taiwan OTC: 6481.TWO - news) Serco Group (Other OTC: SECCF - news) FINALS AA , AL Noor Hospitals Group, Central Asia Metals (LSE: CAML.L - news) , Globaltrans Investment GDR (Reg S), Instem (LSE: INS.L - news) , Learning Technologies Group , Miton Group, Outsourcery (LSE: OUT.L - news) , Plant Health Care (LSE: PHC.L - news) , XLMedia ANNUAL REPORT Fidelity European Values, Nichols (LSE: NICL.L - news) , Nichols AGMS Turk Ekonomi GDR Bankasi AS GDR (Reg S) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Consumer Credit (09:30) M4 Money Supply (09:30) M4 Sterling Lending (09:30) Mortgage Approvals (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE New Europe Property Investments FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Mitsubhi Electric Corp.

Tuesday March 31 INTERIMS Inland Homes (LSE: INL.L - news) , James Halstead (LSE: JHD.L - news) INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Custodian Reit (LSE: CREI.L - news) , HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd, MedicX Fund Ltd., Premier Energy & Water Trust INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Chicago PMI (US) (14:45) Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00) International Reserves (EU) (11:00) Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00) Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55) FINALS Avengardco Investments Public Ltd GDR, Chesnara (LSE: CSN.L - news) , Christie Group (LSE: CTG.L - news) , e-Therapeutics, InternetQ (LSE: INTQ.L - news) , Kingfisher, LiDCO Group (LSE: LID.L - news) , Martinco , MMC Norilsk Nickel ADR, PJSC Centre For Cargo Container Traffic Transcontainer GDR (Reg S) ANNUAL REPORT EMIS Group (LSE: EMIS.L - news) , Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO.L - news) , Old Mutual (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Rensburg AIM VCT AGMS China Rerun Chemical Group Ltd (DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ), ECR Minerals (LSE: ECR.L - news) , Horizonte Minerals (LSE: HZM.L - news) , Hume Capital Securities (LSE: HUME.L - news) , IRF European Finance Investments Ltd (DI), Sula Iron & Gold (LSE: SULA.L - news) , Turkiye is Bankasi A.S GDR C Shs (Reg S) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Thomas Cook Group UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Payments (09:30) Consumer Confidence (09:30) Current Account (09:30) GDP (quarterly national accounts) (09:30) GFK Consumer Confidence (00:05) Index of Services (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Aviva (Other OTC: AIVAF - news) 8 3/8% Cumulative Irrd Preference 1, Henderson Opportunities Trust, Innovation Group (Other OTC: INVGF - news) , Northern Electricity Prf, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Capital Shares, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Income Shares, Temple Bar Inv Trust Wednesday April 01 INTERIMS ASOS INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Darty QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Torchmark Corp.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Auto Sales (US) (15:00) Construction Spending (US) (15:00) ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00) ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) PMI Manufacturing (EU) (09:00) PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55) FINALS Evraz ANNUAL REPORT Evraz AGMS Advance Developing Markets Fund Ltd.

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS PMI Manufacturing (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE General Accident (Prf) Thursday April 02 INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Clinigen Group (LSE: CLIN.L - news) , Hansard Global (LSE: HSD.L - news) , MJ Gleeson (LSE: GLE.L - news) , Pennon Group (Other OTC: PEGRF - news) , River and Mercantile Group , Thorpe (F.W.), Wilmington Group INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Abbey (LSE: ABBY.L - news) , Finsbury Food Group (Other OTC: FFGRF - news) , Game Digital (LSE: GMD.L - news) , GETECH Group (LSE: GTC.L - news) , Henderson EuroTrust, Photo-Me International, Plexus Holdings (LSE: POS.L - news) , Produce Investments, Renewable Energy Generation Ltd., Smith (DS), Volution Group (LSE: FAN.L - news) (WI), Wolseley (EUREX: WLYH.EX - news) QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Barclays QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) , JP Morgan Chase & Co, Mercantile Investment Trust (The) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (US) (13:30) Factory Orders (US) (15:00) Goods Orders (US) (15:00) Retail Sales (GER) (07:00) FINALS Forbidden Technologies (LSE: FBT.L - news) ANNUAL REPORT Alpha Pyrenees Trust Ltd., Ladbrokes (LSE: LAD.L - news) , Pacific Assets Trust, ProPhotonix (DI) SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE River and Mercantile Group SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Game Digital AGMS Amino Technologies (LSE: AMO.L - news) , Scottish American Inv Company, XP Power Ltd (LSE: XPP.L - news) . (DI) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Electrocomponents (LSE: ECM.L - news) , Marks & Spencer Group, Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE.L - news) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS PMI Construction (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Greencore Group (LSE: GNC.L - news) , Hiscox Ltd (CDI), LPA Group (LSE: LPA.L - news) , MTI Wireless Edge Ltd (LSE: MWE.L - news) ., St. Modwen Properties FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Amino Technologies, BrainJuicer Group (LSE: BJU.L - news) , Cambian Group (LSE: CMBN.L - news) , Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO.L - news) , Fyffes (LSE: FFY.L - news) , Glanbia (Other OTC: GLAPY - news) , HGCapital Trust, InterContinental Hotels Group, Interserve (LSE: IRV.L - news) , Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd, Journey Group (LSE: JNY.L - news) , Lloyds Banking Group, Nichols, Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) , SpaceandPeople Friday April 03 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30) Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30) ANNUAL REPORT Menzies(John) EGMS OJSC Phosagro GDR (Regs), Public Power GDR SA (Reg S) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Treatt (LSE: TET.L - news)