Week ahead: China and France in focus
China and France will centre the markets' attention, with data on the world's third largest economy set for release at the start of the week, even as the world watches for Beijing's reaction to North Korea's latest attempt to test a ballistic missile over the weekend, and presidential elections set to take place in the latter.
Data on Chinese retail sales, industrial production, investment and GDP, all on Monday, will help traders gauge the momentum of that economy at the start of 2017.
At the end of the week, on Sunday, Frenchmen will head to the voting booths in the first round of their presidential elections.
In the UK, the main release will come on Friday, with the March tally for retail sales, courtesy of ONS.
Meanwhile, in the euro area, also on Friday IHS Markit will publish the preliminary results for its manufacturing sector purchasing managers' indices for the currency bloc.
Stateside, the main releases will come on Wednesday, with the US Federal Reserve's Beige Book, followed by the latest data on initial weekly unemployment claims and the Federal Reserve bank of Philadelphia's manufaturing sector gauge for the month of April the next day.
Monday April 17
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Schlumberger Ltd.
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Somero Enterprises Inc. (DI)
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
STV Group
Tuesday April 18
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
JPMorgan Mid Cap Inv Trust, Waterman Group
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Building Permits (US) (13:30)
Capacity Utilisation (US) (14:15)
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
Industrial Production (US) (14:15)
ANNUAL REPORT
North Midland Construction
AGMS
Apax Global Alpha Limited , Cloudbuy, Herald Inv Trust, Onzima Ventures
Wednesday April 19
INTERIMS
Associated British Foods
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Assura
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Trade (EU) (11:00)
Consumer Price Index (EU) (11:00)
Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (15:30)
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)
FINALS
e-Therapeutics
AGMS
Bunzl, Harwood Wealth Management Group, Harwood Wealth Management Group, RTC Group, XP Power Ltd. (DI)
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Burberry Group, Relx plc, SEGRO
Thursday April 20
INTERIMS
Gattaca
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Craneware
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Barratt Developments, Carr's Group, SCS Group
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
SQN Asset Finance Income Fund Limited
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Ediston Property Investment Company, Merchants Trust, TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund Limited
Q3
Sky
FINALS
Jersey Oil And Gas , Hvivo, Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings (DI), Xeros Technology Group
ANNUAL REPORT
Royal Dutch Shell 'A'
EGMS
MoneySwap
AGMS
Acacia Mining, Dialight, Domino's Pizza Group, Essentra, LightwaveRF , Octopus AIM VCT 2, Redx Pharma, Relx plc, SEGRO, SThree, Yolo Leisure And Technology
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Law Debenture Corp.
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Acencia Debt Strategies Ltd., Aggreko, BAE Systems, Balfour Beatty, Bodycote, Capital & Counties Properties , Drax Group, Equiniti Group , Fevertree Drinks, Highland Gold Mining Ltd., Hochschild Mining, IndigoVision Group, Inmarsat, Intu Properties, John Laing Group , M. P. Evans Group, Man Group, Marshall Motor Holdings, Mondi, Pendragon, Rathbone Brothers, RPS Group, Smurfit Kappa Group, Stilo International, Taptica International (DI), Tyman, Unite Group, Vitec Group, Zotefoams
Q1
Unilever
Friday April 21
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Animalcare Group, Bioventix, Brooks Macdonald Group, Finsbury Food Group, Go-Ahead Group, Produce Investments, Tracsis
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
XP Power Ltd. (DI)
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Current Account (EU) (09:00)
Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)
GMS
Taihua
IMSS
Reckitt Benckiser Group
AGMS
JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust, MD Medical Group Investments GDR (Reg S), One Media IP Group, PAO Novatek GDR (Reg S), Symphony International Holdings Ltd.
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Record
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Heavitree Brewery, Heavitree Brewery 'A' Shares, IDOX, RM
Q1
PJSC Magnit GDR (REG S), Schlumberger Ltd.