LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - The focus on Thursday will shift back to the US jobs market as the Department of Labor publishes its latest weekly tally of initial jobless claims.


Across the Channel meanwhile, investors' focus will be on the European Central Bank's monthly bulletin.

On home shores meanwhile, the sole reference on the economic calendar will be the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors house price index for April.

No major economic releases are scheduled in Asia.



On the corporate front, 3i's full year numbers may give investors some insight into how professional managers view the outlook for some of the most hard hit sectors in the current pandemic.

Morgan Stanley expects the private equity and venture capital giant to report 26% quarter-on-quarter drop in net asset value to 653.0p per share, on the back of marking-to-market its portfolio.

To take into account, roughly 60% of the portfolio was exposed to retail, travel and leisure.

The bulk of that exposure, 40%, was derived from discount retailer Action and Morgan Stanley was keen to see 3i management's MTM adjustments.

The broker had marked down its own estimate of Action's value by 40% but said 3i might opt to look past the temporary Covid-19 impact, so its markdown could be less.

Other key areas of focus would be management commentary on the outlook for performance, liquidity and leverage levels, as well as investment/realisation activity in the nearer term.

Thursday 14 May

INTERIMS

Countryside Properties, Grainger, Ten Lifestyle Group , Titon Holdings

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

BlackRock Greater Europe Inv Trust, Fidelity Special Values, Menhaden, One Media IP Group

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Ediston Property Investment Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Honeywell International Inc., Raven Property Group Limited Cum Red Pref, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B', The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited, Unilever

FINALS

Checkit, Minoan Group, Premier Foods, Westminster Group

ANNUAL REPORT

Westminster Group

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Ferrexpo

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Tandem Group

EGMS

Matomy Media Group Limited (DI)

AGMS

AIREA, AIREA, Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon, Cairn Energy, Computacenter, Direct Line Insurance Group, Eurocell , European Assets Trust , Flutter Entertainment, Forterra, Genel Energy, Gresham Technologies, Hiscox Limited (DI), Horizonte Minerals, Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI), Just Group, Next, Pittards, Prudential, Quilter, Safestyle UK , Serco Group, Spire Healthcare Group, Telit Communications, TI Fluid Systems, Triple Point Social Housing Reit

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gresham Technologies

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Capital & Counties Properties , Convatec Group , Moneysupermarket.com Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Fevertree Drinks, Fundsmith Emerging Equities Trust , Highcroft Investment, Tandem Group

Q1

Arrow Global Group, Bank of Georgia Group, Indivior

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE