Thursday preview: US sale is the big question at Aviva

We've had Legal and General on Tuesday, Old Mutual on Wednesday so if it is Thursday, it must be Aviva, as the insurance results season continues.

Last month John McFarlane, the new executive Chairman of Aviva, outlined details of the insurance giant's new strategic direction which will see the group endeavour to narrow its focus, build its financial strength and improve financial performance.

It is a bit early for Thursday's interim results to contain detail on the group's progress towards these goals, although McFarlane does not come across as a man who likes to hang about. He will, however, take his time in choosing a new chief executive officer (CEO) to replace Andrew Moss, whose well remunerated position became untenable as shareholders lost faith with his recovery plan for the group. McFarlane is targeting the New Year, or shortly afterwards, to unveil a new CEO.

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The big question, which probably won't be answered in the results, is whether Aviva is going to sell its US operations, which Moss bought at great expense (around $2bn) back in 2006.

Switching to economic data, the UK is expected to announce a trade deficit on goods of £8.63bn for June, versus a deficit of £8.36bn in May.

INTERIMS

Amec, Aviva, Bumi, Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd. (DI), Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Hill & Smith Holdings, Randgold Resources Ltd.

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

ITE Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (US) (13:30)

Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

ECB Report (EU) (09:00)

Factory Orders (GER) (11:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Wholesales Inventories (US) (15:00)

Q2

Aviva, Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Randgold Resources Ltd.

Q3

Allocate Software

GMS

Petards Group, Thomas Cook Group, Town Centre Securities

FINALS

Oil & Gas Development Company Ltd GDR (Reg S)

IMSS

Allocate Software, Grainger

AGMS

Invesco Asia Trust, Majestic Wine, Octopus Apollo VCT 4

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (Trade Balance) (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Caledonia Investments, Octopus Apollo VCT 3, Octopus Apollo VCT 4

JH