Thursday preview: BoE and ECB in focus

A further 50 basis point hike in Bank Rate to 4.0% as widely expected.

However, economists at Barclays Research were expecting Bank to announce a downshift in the pace of tightening to 25bp at future meetings.

Barclays was expecting two further 25bp hikes after Thursday in March and May.

In particular, expectations were that the Monetary Policy Committee would eliminate the reference to "forceful" from its guidance.

The European Central Bank's governing council was also due to meet to decide on interest rates.

Given that a 50bp hike to 3.0% was already entirely priced into financial markets, the key point of interest would be what President Christine Lagarde had to say regarding the pace of future rate hikes.

Analysts were also waiting on the first details of its anticipated programme of quantitative tightening.

The economic calendar would be lighter in the US on Thursday, although investors were likely to be keeping close tabs on the latest weekly jobless claims figures.

Also due out alongside was labour productivity and unit labor cost data for the fourth quarter.

Not to lose sight of, the US Department of Labor was scheduled to publish its all-important monthly non-farm payrolls report the next day.

For that reason, the reaction in financial markets to the BoE and ECB policy announcements might be a bit restrained.

Shell would be the centre of attention on the corporate side of things.

The oil major has previously pointed out that its fourth quarter numbers would be impacted to the tune of about $2bn by the multiple windfall taxes on either side of the Channel, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK pointed out.

On the flip-side, it had also guided towards a "significantly better" performance in gas trading than in the third quarter, Hewson said.

But Hewson also noted how the outfit's spending thus far on renewables had been "tiny", adding that Shell's new boss needed to extol the importance of natural gas in the world's energy transition towards greener fuels.

Thursday 02 February

INTERIMS

Renishaw

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

XPS Pensions Group

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Atrato Onsite Energy, DWF Group , IG Group Holdings, Marwyn Value Investors Limited, Totally

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

British American Tobacco

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Greencoat Renewables (CDI)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Factory Orders (US) (15:00)

Gross Domestic Product (EU) (10:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

PMI Retail (GER) (07:00)

Q3

Airtel Africa , BT Group, Shell

Q4

OMV Petrom S.A. GDR (REG S)

GMS

Valirx

FINALS

OMV Petrom S.A. GDR (REG S), Shell

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Hollywood Bowl Group, ICG-Longbow Senior Secured UK Property Debt Investments Ltd

AGMS

Abrdn Equity Income Trust, Agronomics Limited, Alteration Earth, Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust , Hargreave Hale AIM VCT , Hargreave Hale AIM VCT , JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust, Sage Group, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Cranswick, JTC

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Baronsmead Second Venture Trust, Baronsmead Venture Trust, Hollywood Bowl Group, Paragon Banking Group, Ramsdens Holdings , Treatt, Watkin Jones