Ocado Group PLC, Purplebricks Group PLC, Federal Reserve, Bank of

With Ocado, Purplebricks (AIM:PURP), Currys and many others there will be plenty of company results action – and omicron reaction – for investors to mull over even as many of us start to wind down for Christmas.

Central bankers are not taking any time off yet, with a bonanza of 17 meetings around the world to decide policy decisions this week, including the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, Bank of England, European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank on Thursday and Bank of Japan on Friday.

After a decade of record low interest rates and in some cases even negative interest rates, could one of them take a small step higher at this week’s meeting?

Tuesday 14 December

UK jobs data

Before the Bank of England’s meeting on Thursday, there will be labour market data (on Tuesday) and inflation numbers (on Wednesday) for the monetary policy committee (MPC) to crunch.

Under normal circumstances, said AJ Bell analysts, an environment where UK GDP growth is expected to reach at least 6% in 2021 and 2022, where inflation is running way ahead of the 2% target and where unemployment is just 4.3% an interest rate of 0.1% “would make no sense whatsoever”.

But distortions to the data caused the pandemic, lockdowns and their ongoing effects upon consumer and corporate behaviour are making it harder for the Bank of England to get a true picture of the economy.

The MPC, say the AJ Bell analysts, seems more concerned about the danger posed by unemployment than it does about the danger posed by inflation.

On Tuesday, the expectations are that unemployment will slip to 4.2% for October from 4.3%a month earlier. Last month’s numbers showed the employment rate was a historically high 75.1%, while wage growth was 5.8% including bonuses and 4.4% without.

The overall claimant count was high at 2.1mln, however, which compares to 1.25mln in January 2020.

Ocado updates – but probably more important for M&S

Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) issues a trading statement for its 50-50 UK online grocery joint venture with Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) for its fourth quarter to the end of November.

Back in September the pair warned that additional costs for hiring van drivers and the recovery from the fire at its Erith fulfilment centre will add £5mln extra costs to this year’s results.

The fire has also cost £10mln in lost orders, with stock and asset write-offs a further £10mln, though after insurance the net cost is £10mln.

Sales at the Ocado Retail joint venture fell 10.6% in the quarter ending 19 August, compared with growth of 54% a year ago, reflecting disruption from the fire and people starting going back to bricks and mortar shops again.

The latest ‘Plan B’ restrictions – not to say potential ‘Plan C’ – may be good news for the business but are not going to have any affect on the latest quarter,…