Relative riches in midweek with a FTSE 100 company, in the form of Bunzl PLC (LSE:BNZL) (Bunzl PLC (LSE:BNZL)), which issued a bullish update a few weeks ago but has seen the investor confidence drain away in recent days, not helped by sentiment being dented by reports the UK is close to a ban on single use plastics.
This has drawn attention to how much of the company's business is reliant on single-use and disposable items in packaging, hygiene, personal protection equipment, cleaning and other products for food, retail, safety, healthcare and other sectors – but the impact is not expected to be seen in this week’s update.
Also reporting is Carnival PLC (LSE:CCL) (Carnival PLC (LSE:CCL)), which was a blue-chip company itself until the pandemic saw its cruise ships become virus hotspots – or ‘floating petri dishes’ – turned away from ports around the world.
The Anglo-US company is still battling the hangover effects, with analysts highlighting concerns around rising wage and advertising costs as well as fuel volatility.
In macro news, US consumer confidence will be in focus, which rose to a six-month high in September but has started to soften, despite evidence that inflation is starting to come down.
“The main reason for the slowdown is more than likely down to the fact that interest rate rises from the Federal Reserve are now starting to have an impact on credit costs, which in turn is hammering the US housing market, which has seen sales fall every month this year, except January,” said market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.
“We’re also seeing services level inflation starting to become stickier and this also appears to be affecting consumption patterns. This pattern of higher prices is expected to see consumer confidence continue to soften below 100 to 99.9 and a four-month low.”
Significant announcements
Trading updates: Bunzl PLC (LSE:BNZL), Carnival PLC (LSE:CCL) & Corporation
US earnings: Micron Technology
AGMs: 7digital Group PLC, BATM Advanced Communications Ltd (LSE:BVC) (BATM Advanced Communications Ltd (LSE:BVC)), dotDigital Group PLC, Northamber PLC
Economic announcements: MBA Mortgage Applications (US), Current Account (US), Consumer Confidence (US), Existing Home Sales (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US), Public Sector Net Borrowing (UK)