Friday preview: US retail sales, confidence figures

12th Sep 2013 14:52

US retail sales and confidence figures will hog the spotlight on Friday as the Federal Reserve turns to economic indicators to weigh a stimulus cut. Retail sales in the world's largest economy in August rose 0.4% compared to July when it climbed by 0.2%, a report is expected to show.The University of Michigan Confidence index is tipped to reveal a reading of 82 for September, down from 82.1 the previous month.The data comes ahead of the Fed's policy meeting on September 17-18th when the central bank may announce a scaling back of its $85bn per month in bond purchases.The Fed is looking at economic reports to determine whether the US has recovered enough to begin tapering. In the earnings session, JD Wetherspoon will post its annual results with Panmure Gordon's Simon French forecasting pre-tax profit of £75.8m, slightly below the consensus figure of £76.2m."We anticipate a solid current trading update accompanying the full-year results with around 2% like-for-like sales growth despite a tough comparative of 8.4%," the analyst said, giving the stock a 'buy' rating. Friday September 13thINTERIMSSongbird EstatesINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE4Imprint Group, Moneysupermarket.com Group, Pearson, RM, Spirent CommunicationsQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEBarclays, Carnival, Energy XXI (Bermuda) (Di)INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Trade (EU) (10:00)Business Inventories (US) (13:30)Manufacturing Inventories (US) (15:00)Producer Price Index (US) (13:30)Retail Sales (US) (13:45)Retail Sales Inventories (US) (15:15)U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)GMSJPMorgan Brazil Inv TrustFINALSWetherspoon (J.D.)AGMSJPMorgan Brazil Inv Trust , ReNeuron Group, SVM UK Emerging FundFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEDowning Absolute Income VCT 2, Downing Structured Opportunities VCT 1 'B' Shares, Downing Structured Opportunities VCT 1 'D' Shares, Latchways, New Century AIM VCT, Sweett GroupRD