Wednesday preview: CPI data, Smurfit Kappa and Whitbread in focus

Barring surprises on the global trade or Brexit fronts, the market spotlight on Wednesday is likely to fall on US consumer price data covering the month of January.

Forecasts are for headline inflation to fall back from December's pace of 1.9% year-on-year to 1.5%, although at the so-called 'core' level CPI gains were seen slowing from 2.2% to 2.1%.

Also scheduled for Wednesday were speeches by Atlanta Fed boss, Raphael Bostic, at the European Financial Forum, in Dublin, alongside remarks by Cleveland Fed chief, Loretta Mester, on the economic outlook and monetary policy.

Due out as well, in the evening, were the latest US Treasury budget figures, for the month of December.

In the UK, consumer price data for the month of January was slated for release at 0930 GMT.

Among the corporates that are set to update markets on Wednesday is Smurfit Kappa.

Numis's Kevin Fogarty had penciled-in full-year EBITDA for the paper and packaging manufacturer of €1.519bn (consensus: €1.531bn) on sales of €9.181bn for growth of 7.2%.

In Fogarty's opinion, the feature of the company's results was likely to be its margin improvement.

Also, given expected solid end-market demand, he expected there to be increased focus on near-term industry capacity expansion and the pricing environment.

"In our view, the key share price catalyst will be management outlook for the current financial year."

Whitbread will also be in the spotlight as the Costa coffee-owner hosts its Capital Markets Day.

For analysts at UBS, investors' attention will be on the company's update on its property strategy given the expectation that it will reduce its freehold versus leasehold mix in a bid to unlock capital.

Nevertheless, there were other aspects that needed clarifying, with Numis pointing out that the size of any capital return following the disposal of Costa had yet to be announced, although Numis's Tim Barrett believed it would be in a range between £2.9bn to £3.2bn.

"While the share price has travelled well into the event (+12% YTD) and there may be few surprises, it remains one of our top picks for its defensive growth attributes," Barrett added.

Wednesday February 13

INTERIMS

Dunelm Group, Galliford Try, Oncimmune Holdings

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)

Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS

BB Healthcare Trust (Red), Smurfit Kappa Group, Tullow Oil

AGMS

Artemis VCT, RWS Holdings, Urban&Civic

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

RWS Holdings, Time Out Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (09:30)

Producer Price Index (09:30)

Retail Price Index (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Dewhurst

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI)