Two highlights for the last session of the week: September retail sales in the United States and the quarterly publications of several major American banks.
As for the evolution of retail sales, growth is anticipated by the consensus formed by Bloomberg, of 0.2% over one month, after 0.3% for the month of August. Excluding automobiles, retail sales are expected to fall by 0.1%, therefore to a lesser extent than in August, when they contracted by 0.3%.
On the publications side, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo will unveil their third quarter accounts. Publications which will of course be closely watched, while the world’s number one asset management company, BlackRock, announced on Thursday that it recorded a 15% decline in its turnover over the period.
No more gilt redemptions!
Alongside these two highlights, a few other statistics are on the day’s program. First the final data for inflation in France, which should come out at 6.2%. Then, across the Atlantic, business inventories for the month of August, expected to increase by 0.9% (+0.6% in July). Household confidence should also have improved slightly there, for the month of October. The University of Michigan index should indeed have rebounded to 59 points, against 58.6 in September.
Before the opening of the Paris Stock Exchange, operators will also have taken note of the inflation figures for September, in China, which came out at 2.8% over one year (2.5% in August), i.e. their highest since more than two years.
Finally, and since investors already knew it, even if certain rumors did not fail to heckle the market: the British central bank will end its program of emergency bond purchases (gilts).