Tuesday preview: Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Centamin in focus

The market spotlight on Tuesday will fall on US banking heavyweights Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, as they release their fourth quarter earnings.

In particular, investors will be looking for any signs that the latter, in particular, is set to resume pay-outs, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

The median earnings per share estimate from the analyst consensus is for quarterly EPS of $6.88.

For Bank of America on the other hand, investors are most interested in whether the lender was forced to further top up its loan loss provisions in the latest quarter, with EPS seen coming in at 53 US cents, Hewson added.

Across the Channel meanwhile, the focus will on a key vote in the Italian senate which could seriously weaken the current government's ability to pass legislation.

Also due out is the ZEW institute's closely-followed gauge for economic confidence in Germany referencing the month of January.

No major economic releases are scheduled in the UK.

Centamin is among the few corporate names n the UK that are due to release results on Tuesday.

UBS analyst, Hugo Bravery, expects the Egypt-focused gold miner to announce a 25% reduction in processing volumes for the fourth quarter due to the disruption to its open pit mining last October.

Bravery estimated that should result in a 51% quarter-on-quarter drop in gold output, alongside a 51% quarterly surge in Centamin's all-in sustaining costs to $1,466/oz..

That would be in line with the latest guidance from the company itself.

Tuesday January 19

INTERIMS

Knights Group Holdings , Knights Group Holdings , Time Finance , U And I Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

MS International

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Current Account (EU) (09:00)

ZEW Survey (EU) - Economic Sentiment (10:00)

ZEW Survey (GER) - Current Situation (10:00)

ZEW Survey (GER) - Economic Sentiment (10:00)

FINALS

Watkin Jones

EGMS

Flutter Entertainment

AGMS

C4X Discovery Holdings , Tracsis

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Etalon Group GDR (Reg S), Experian, Henry Boot, Kier Group, Premier Foods, Rio Tinto