Wednesday preview: UK CPI, Fed minutes in focus

The market spotlight on Wednesday will be on consumer price data for January and the minutes of the US central bank's most recent policy meeting.

At 0930 GMT, the Office for National Statistics will publish a reading on CPI that is expected to show a pick up in harmonised prices from 1.4% for last month to 1.7%, alongside a smaller increase in core CPI.

In the US meantime, the focus will be on the release of the Fed minutes for the 29-30 January policy meeting, at 1900 GMT.

Expectations are that they will show committee members remain in "wait and see" mode on policy, echoing the tone taken by Chairman Jerome Powell in his testimonies before Congress during the previous week, economists at Barclays said.

They were also expected to reveal discussions around conditions in short-term funding markets and the reasons behind recent weakness in the effective Federal funds rate.

Across the Channel meanwhile, euro area current account figures for December are due out at 1000 GMT, followed by the Belgian central bank's business confidence index at 1300 GMT.

Wednesday 19 February

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Building Permits (US) (13:30)

Current Account (EU) (09:00)

Housing Starts (US) (13:30)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Producer Price Index (US) (13:30)

Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)

FINALS

RPS Group

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Hollywood Bowl Group

AGMS

Gooch & Housego

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (09:30)

Producer Price Index (09:30)

Retail Price Index (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Hollywood Bowl Group