Friday preview: US non-farm payrolls, LSE Group in focus
The market spotlight at the end of the week will be on the all-important monthly US non-farm payrolls report.
Financial Services
14,075.11
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,341.08
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,296.41
17:08 19/04/24
London Stock Exchange Group
8,984.00p
17:15 19/04/24
By and large, many analysts seem to be increasingly confident that the the country's jobs market is set for a rebound over the coming, unless it is thrown a bit off track by rising numbers of Cobvid-19 cases and easing lockdowns.
Consensus is calling for the Department of Labor to report a 133,000 increase in payrolls following January's rise of 49,000 - in effect signalling that the jobs market is at best treading water.
On home shores meanwhile, investors' focus will be on the Recruitment and Employment Confederation's Placements and Salaries indices for February.
Across the Channel meanwhile, German factory orders data for January are due out at 0700 GMT.
For the London Stock Exchange's second half, UBS's Michael Werner anticipates that total income will have risen by 2% year-on-year to reach £1.2bn for gross profit of £1.1bn.
Investors' focus will be on the main drivers of that revenue growth, Information Services and Post-Trade.
The former is expected to post a 9% jump on the year to reach £365m, offset by a decline of 3% to £449m at the information arm, which includes FTE Russell.
Operating expenditures for the half meanwhile were pegged to fall 1% to £429m.
There will also be keen interest in any potential changes to the firm's targets or operating strategy after the acquisition of Refinitiv closed at the end of January.