Week Ahead: Persimmon and the housebuilder recovery | The best company in the world | German giants

Welcome to the Week Ahead, your weekly destination for conversation about large cap and international news. We’ve seen interest in US stocks really tick up in 2024 so we’re looking to expand our coverage of these stocks (especially in the US) in the coming weeks. Let us know which sectors or companies you’d like to see increased coverage of.

It’s hardly surprising that more of our community is starting to look overseas for opportunities. Because the UK remains lacklustre. Last week’s big economic event in the UK (the Chancellor’s budget) had very little impact on the domestic markets as a whole. The FTSE and AIM All Shares were flat week on week, although the 250 (which largely comprises companies with a high exposure to the British economy) crept up slightly.
It will be interesting to see how the same market performs this week when we’ll get a few more hints about how the economy is holding up. On Tuesday the claimant count rate will show how the labour market is holding up, while financial results from housebuilder Persimmon, estate agency Savills and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (all due this week) could add some colour.
Overall though,...