Wednesday preview: Fed's Powell, Berkeley Group Holdings in focus

All eyes on Wednesday will be on Fed chairman Jerome Powell as he delivers his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress.

Powell is due to begin his testimony from 1500 BST.

In parallel, Chicago Fed boss, Charles Evans, and his peer from the Philly Fed, Patrick Harker, are due to speak at different venues at 1700 BST and 1830 BST, respectively.

On home shores, before the start of trading in London, the Office for National Statistics is expected to report that the UK's Consumer Price Index rose at a 9.1% year-on-year pace in May, or one tenth of a percentage point more than in the month before.

Across the Channel meanwhile, at 1500 BST, Eurostat will release a preliminary reading on its consumer confidence index for the month of June.

On the company side of things, Berkeley Group Holdings is expected to post a modest rise in sales with investors seen focusing on the homebuilder's outlook for 2023.

"Key will be trading trends in London amid generally more uncertain macro backdrop," UBS analyst Gregor Kuglitsch added.

Another key factor to watch according to the analyst will be what the builder has to say regarding recent trading conditions and the outlook for 2023.

The latest guidance from the company was for 2023 profits before tax of £600m including the contribution from the St.Williams buy-out.

Kuglitsch's estimates called for a 4% year-on-year rise in sales to to £2.28bn and a 5% rise in profit before tax, before exceptionals, to reach £544m.

Wednesday 22 June

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Fidelity Special Values, Puma VCT 12

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS

Berkeley Group Holdings (The)

AGMS

ASA International Group , Atalaya Mining, Bonhill Group, Chesterfield Resources , Chesterfield Resources , Ecofin U.S. Renewables Infrastructure Trust, EJF Investments Ltd NPV, Frenkel Topping Group, Good Energy Group, Honeycomb Investment Trust, Huatai Securities Co., Ltd GDR (Each Repr 10 A Shs RMB1) (Reg S) , ICG-Longbow Senior Secured UK Property Debt Investments Ltd, Intelligent Ultrasound Group , Iofina, Kingfisher, Menhaden Resource Efficiency, Micro Focus International, Pembridge Resources, Pennant International Group, Plant Health Care, SDIC Power Holdings Co.,Ltd GDR (Reg S) , Skillcast Group, Team, Trident Royalties, Vertu Motors, Wentworth Resources NPV, Wood Group (John)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (07:00)

Producer Price Index (07:00)

Retail Price Index (07:00)