Wednesday preview: Ukraine-Russia crisis, Barclays in the spotlight

All eyes on Wednesday will be on the ongoing crisis and how the international community responds to Russia's decision to recognise the two breakaway republics in Ukraine's Donbass region.

No major economic releases are scheduled in the UK or US.

Across the Channel, the spotlight will be a reading for German consumer confidence for the month of March, at 0700 GMT.

It will be followed at 1000 GMT by a final print for euro area consumer prices in January.

Further afield, in New Zealand, rate-setters will meet to decide on monetary policy.

On the company side of things and for Barclays's fourth quarter, UBS's Jason Napier has penciled-in a near doubling in underlying profits before tax to reach £1.38bn.

Barclays's stated earnings per share meanwhile were seen more than tripling to 5.20p.

Net interest income meanwhile was expected to have risen by 6% on an annual basis and costs to be flat.

The lender was also expected to announce a divided per share of 4.5p, alongside a £1.5bn share buyback.

Wednesday 23 February

INTERIMS

Avingtrans, CAP-XX Limited, Netcall

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS

Barclays, Capital & Counties Properties , Georgia Capital , IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES REIT P IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES ORD SHS, Rio Tinto

AGMS

Blencowe Resources , Gooch & Housego, Income & Growth VCT , RWS Holdings, Tharisa (DI), Titon Holdings

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Dewhurst, Dewhurst (Non-Voting), Oxford Metrics