Similar to last week, this week’s results scheduled will be dominated by retailers and house builders.
Among the former, the big names reporting are ASOS, Burberry, Primark owner Associated British Foods, Dixons, Halfords, Home Retail, Ocado and Debenhams.
Burberry’s update will cover the October to December period, which is the third quarter of the company’s fiscal year.
Deutsche Bank forecasts retail sales of £522mln, which would be one-eighth higher year-on-year. Currency movements won’t have been helpful.
“We estimate that slightly under 50% of Retail sales are from Asia Pacific. Mainland China, the largest component within this, grew during the last quarter at a high single-digit rate and we expect sales to have held up reasonably well,” Deutsche said.
Of the house builders, the ones to watch out for are Barratt Developments, Bovis and Taylor Wimpey.
All should be in upbeat mood thanks to the government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Significant announcements expected
Monday
Companies: Interims: Best of the Best (LON:BEST).
Economic: US: Monthly Budget Statement (DEC).
Tuesday
Companies: Interims: Ideagen (LON:IDEA). IG Group (LON:IGG). Trading Statement: ASOS (LON:ASC), Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY), Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV), Carr's Milling Industries (LON:CRM), Countrywide (LON:CWD), Dragon Oil (LON:DGO),Mecum Group (LON:MEC), Michael Page International (LON:MPI), Spirit Pub (LON:SPRT).
Economic: UK: Producer Price Index Output Core n.s.a. (YoY) (DEC), Consumer Price Index (MoM) (DEC), Consumer Price Index (YoY) (DEC), Core Consumer Price Index (YoY) (DEC), Retail Price Index (YoY) (DEC). EU: EUR Euro-Zone Industrial Production w.d.a. (YoY) (NOV). US: Advance Retail Sales (DEC), Retail Sales Less Autos (DEC).
Wednesday
Companies: Trading Statement: Burberry Group (LON:BRBY), Diploma (LON:DPLM), Fenner (LON:FENR), Genel Energy (LON:GENL), Jupiter Fund Management (LON:JUP), Smiths News (LON:NWS), Tullow Oil (LON:TLW), Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.).
The following widely-held stocks will be trading ex-dividend: Imperial Tobacco, QinetiQ, Ashtead.
Economic: EU: German GDP n.s.a. (YoY) (2013). US: Mortgage Applications (JAN 10), Federal Reserve Releases Beige Book Report.
Thursday
Companies: Trading Statement: Associated British Foods (LON:ABF), Aberdeen Asset Management (LON:AND), Booker Group (LON:BOK), Bovis Homes Group (LON:BVS), Computacenter (LON:CCC), C&C Group (LON:CCR), Dixons Retail (LON:DXNS), Experian (LON:EXPN), Halfords Group (LON:HFD), Home Retail Group (LON:HOME), Ladbrokes (LON:LAD), Ocado Group (LON:OCDO), Premier Oil (LON:PMO), Rio Tinto (LON:RIO). Interims: NCC Group (LON:NCC).
Economic: EU: German Consumer Price Index (YoY) (DEC F), German Consumer Price Index, Harmonised (YoY) (DEC F), ECB Publishes Monthly Report, Euro-Zone Consumer Price Index (MoM) (DEC), Euro-Zone Consumer Price Index (YoY) (DEC F), Euro-Zone Consumer Price Index - Core (YoY) (DEC F). US: Initial Jobless Claims (JAN 11), Continuing Claims (JAN 4), Consumer Price Index (MoM) (DEC), Consumer Price Index Ex Food & Energy (MoM) (DEC), Consumer Price Index (YoY) (DEC), Consumer Price Index Ex Food & Energy (YoY) (DEC), Net Long-term TIC Flows (NOV), Philadelphia Fed. (JAN), NAHB Housing Market Index (JAN).
Friday
Companies: Finals: William Hill (LON:WMH). Trading Statement: Clarke (T) (LON:CTO), Debenhams (LON:DEB), Stobart Group (LON:STOB), Spectris (LON:SXS).
Economic: UK: Retail Sales (YoY) (DEC). US: Housing Starts (MoM) (DEC), Building Permits (MoM) (DEC) , Industrial Production (DEC), Manufacturing (SIC) Production (DEC), U. of Michigan Confidence (JAN P).