The busy week will end with a quarterly trading statement from Ashmore Group PLC (LON:ASHM), which will give a flavour on how the emerging markets are doing.
There’s no major data scheduled from either side of the Atlantic, but China is expected to issue a flurry of releases with house prices, GDP growth, industrial production, retail sales and unemployment rate all coming out overnight.
Ashmore will focus on assets under management (AuM), which increased 11% to US$93bn in the six months to December, helped by significant market outperformance across fixed income and equities.
Investors will want to hear how operating costs are being dealt with, after the asset manager previously said it focused on managing them to keep profits high.
The company is also looking to diversify its investment capabilities and to grow the scale of its local asset management platforms.
However, Shore Capital downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ in February as they deemed the premium to the rest of the sector too large.
“With the risk of inflation shocks arguably higher than for many years, which are never good news for bonds, we think the risk/reward in the current share price is unfavourable and the safe dividend yield (on a likely flat payment) of 3.6% no longer offers valuation support”, analysts said.
Significant announcements expected for Friday April 16:
Trading announcements: Ashmore Group PLC (LON:ASHM), Kainos Group PLC (LON:KNOS), Mediclinic International Plc (LON:MDC)
Economic data: US Michigan consumer sentiment