Next week is set to be an extremely busy week, looking at the corporate and economic calendar from home and abroad.

Third-quarter UK corporate earnings season really gets into full swing with some heavyweight Footsie constituents scheduled to report, including GlaxoSmithKline, Shell, Smith & Nephew, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds.

On Thursday, Lloyds is expected to report an 'underlying' pre-tax profit of £580m in the third quarter and a 'management' pre-tax profit of £933m (which includes around £350m of 'fair value unwind'), according to Credit Suisse.

In a research report on October 23rd, the broker said that it had not included any further provisions in its forecasts for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims. "Having taken a total of £4.3bn PPI charge so far, the implied charge following Barclays announcement could be up to c£1.5bn."

As for RBS, Nomura says that the things to watch out for in its third-quarter statement on Friday include: an improvement in core trends, particularly in NIMs (net interest margins); stable revenues in GBM (Global Banking and Markets); muted improvement in asset quality; and £350 in PPI provisions.

Election fever is set to ignite across the Pond ahead of the US presidential elections the week after. All eyes will be on the final reading of the US jobs report on Friday November 2nd which could provide a major catalyst for votes for either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, depending on the outcome.

Analysts at Investec said: "Over recent days the race for the White House has become much closer, with President Obama appearing to lose ground across the crucial swing states knocking his chances of winning the electoral college vote and therefore his chances of retaining the keys to the White House.

"The outcome of the Presidential and Congressional vote on November 6th will be key in shaping market confidence over the ease through which US lawmakers will succeed in dealing in a balanced way with the fiscal cliff and in raising the debt ceiling."

The following weekend (November 4-5th) will see the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Mexico.

"So far we have little detail on what this meeting will cover, beyond a round-up on the state of play with the Euro crisis and outlook for the global economy," Investec said.



Monday October 29

INTERIMS
Great Eastern Energy Corp Ltd. GDR

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)
Personal Income (US) (13:30)
Personal Spending (US) (13:30)

GMS
XCAP Securities

ANNUAL REPORT
Stellar Diamonds

IMSS
Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI), Perform Group

EGMS
ICB Financial Group Holdings (CDI), Wood Group (John)

AGMS
Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd., City of London Inv Trust, Parallel Media Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
M4 Money Supply (estimate) (09:30)
M4 Sterling Lending (estimate) (09:30)
Mortgage Approvals (09:30)
Trends in Lending (09:30)

Tuesday October 30

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Ashley (Laura) Holding, Smith & Nephew

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Octopus AIM VCT

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Dow Chemical Co

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00)
Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00)
PMI Retail (EU) (09:00)
PMI Retail (GER) (08:55)
Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55)

Q3
Bank Millennium SA, BP, Erste Group Bank AG, Eurasia Drilling Co Ltd GDR (Reg S), Eurasia Drilling Co Ltd GDR (Reg S), Hrvatske Telekom D.D GDR (Reg S), Wolfson Microelectronics, Yamana Gold Inc.

FINALS
Imperial Tobacco Group, Redefine International

EGMS
National Bank of Greece ADR

AGMS
Marwyn Value Investors Ltd., Mirada, Surface Transforms

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Produce Investment

Wednesday October 31

INTERIMS
Volex

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Amiad Water Systems Ltd, Foresight Solar VCT, Wynnstay Group

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
APR Energy, Bloomsbury Publishing, Booker Group, C&C Group, Development Securities, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'F' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (General Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (Low Carbon Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (Structured Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 F Shares, Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 2, Hilton Food Group, Howden Joinery Group, Intertek Group, ITV, Laird, Lombard Risk Management, Lookers, M&C Saatchi, Moss Bros Group, Provident Financial, Restore

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd., JP Morgan Chase & Co, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, Schroder Income Growth Fund

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chicago PMI (US) (13:45)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)
International Reserves (EU) (11:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)

Q3
First Quantum Minerals Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline

FINALS
Neos Resources, Tracsis

ANNUAL REPORT
Aquarius Platinum Ltd.

IMSS
Aegis Group, Barclays, Logica, Mondi, Next, Phoenix Group Holdings (DI), St James's Place, Standard Life

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
IndigoVision Group

EGMS
OSJC Center for Cargo Container Traffic Transcontainer GDR (Reg S)

AGMS
Ashmore Group, Carpathian, Coburg Group, Greenko Group, Ideagen, Pacific Horizon Inv Trust, Tricor

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Abbey, Alumasc Group, Haynes Publishing Group, Rank Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Abcam, AIREA, Allocate Software, El Oro Ltd, Go-Ahead Group, IndigoVision Group, JPMorgan Global Markets Emerging Income Trust

Thursday November 01

INTERIMS
BT Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Derwent London, Fisher (James) & Sons, Keller Group, TT Electronics

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Mercantile Investment Trust (The), Torchmark Corp., Verizon Communications

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Auto Sales (US) (15:00)
Construction Spending (US) (15:00)
ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00)
ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)
Productivity (US) (13:30)

Q2
BT Group

Q3
Avocet Mining, BG Group, Reed Elsevier, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B', Smith & Nephew

IMSS
Glencore International, International Power, Legal & General Group, Lloyds Banking Group

AGMS
British Sky Broadcasting Group, Pochin's, Strategic Equity Capital, Webis Holdings

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Smith (DS)

Q1
British Sky Broadcasting Group

Friday November 02

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Advanced Medical Solutions Group, BBA Aviation, Brammer, F&C Private Equity Trust, GVC Holdings, Judges Scientific, Motivcom, New Britain Palm Oil Ltd. (DI), Tandem Group, Weir Group

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Factory Orders (US) (15:00)
Goods Orders (US) (15:00)
Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)
PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55)
Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)

Q3
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels

GMS
Stellar Resources

IMSS
Admiral Group, Direct Line Insurance Group, Meggitt, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

AGMS
Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd., Rare Earth Minerals

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Pacific Horizon Inv Trust, Zetar

Related share prices
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Smith & Nephew (SN.) share price
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) share price
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) share price