Wednesday preview: Fedspeak, GSK in the spotlight

Inverstors' attention on Wednesday will be on appearances by two top US central bank officials, whose words will be carefully parsed for any policy relevant remarks.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman is due to speak to a community bankers association at 1530 GMT, followed by Cleveland Fed President, Loretta Mester, at a virtual event on the outlook for the economy and monetary policy at 1700 GMT.

Across the Channel meanwhile, the market spotlight will be on foreign trade figures out of Germany covering and industrial production data for Italy, both covering the month of December.

Further afield, rate-setters in India and Thailand are due to meet to decide on policy.

In China, the country's central bank may release money supply data for January.

No major economic releases are scheduled in the UK.

For GlaxoSmithKline's fourth quarter, UBS analyst Laura Sutcliffe has penciled-in a 7% jump in sales versus a year earlier to reach £9.33bn.

Core earnings before interest and taxes meanwhile were pegged at roughly £1.92bn, for a 9% rise and core earnings per share of 25p (consensus: 23p).

The analyst said that the recovery path for sales of the company's treatment against shingles, Shingrix, would be key.

Her estimates called for quarterly Shingrix sales of approximately £565m.

She further estimated that the current share price was discounting a roughly £50bn enterprise value for GSK's Consumer Health arm, which was due to be spun out mid year and a stub biopharma business trading on a core price-to-earnings multiple of 11-12 times.

Excluding Covid solutions, she expected the stub business to generate earnings per share of around 96.0p.

Wednesday 09 February

INTERIMS

Barratt Developments, Dunelm Group, PZ Cussons

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Crystal Amber Fund Ltd., Panther Securities

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

British American Tobacco

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

Current Account (GER) (07:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Wholesales Inventories (US) (15:00)

Q4

GlaxoSmithKline, Lancashire Holdings Limited

GMS

Industrials Reit Limited

FINALS

Lancashire Holdings Limited, Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI)

AGMS

Contango Holdings , Euromoney Institutional Investor, Finsbury Growth & Income Trust, Grainger, Inspirit Energy Holdings, JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income, Oxford Metrics, Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Discoverie Group, Grainger

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Retail Sales (00:01)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Brewin Dolphin Holdings, Future