Wednesday preview: Fedspeak, Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey in focus

In the background meanwhile, investor attention will be on the release of the minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting, after the close of trading in London.

Ahead of that, regional Fed presidents, Raphael Bostic, Charles Evans and Eric Rosengren are set to deliver speeches, starting from 1320 GMT onwards.

Back in the UK, the main data releases will be the Recruitment and Employment Confederation's permanent staff placements and salaries surveys.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the Ministry of Finance is set to release its foreign trade balance data covering the month of November.

Construction stocks and retailers will be in the spotlight on the corporate front.

Among the former, analysts at Numis are expecting a "solid" update out of Barratt Developments, although they do not anticipate any changes to estimates.

Self-help initiatives and modest top-line growth should also underpin the homebuilders' earnings, analyst Chris Millington said.

Those positives, he said, were not reflected in the shares' valuation.

For Taylor Wimpey meanwhile, Numis is not ruling out a "sizeable" share buyback policy, which would bolster the share price and earnings per share.

As an aside, Millington said the shares were "cheap" but he spied better earnings momentum and value elsewhere in the same space.

B&M Retail is also set to update markets, with UBS saying the retailer needs to see an acceleration in sales to meet the broker's forecast for a 2% rise in third quarter like-for-like sales.

Nevertheless, as analyst Andrew Hughes points out, the latest figures from rivals Next and John Lewis suggest both enjoyed a late surge in sales.

Other key issues to keep in mind are the performance of its food arm, the impact of space addition, the retailer's gross margins and the possible negative effects of recent industrial action in France.

Wednesday January 09

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

3i Group, Electrocomponents, National Grid

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00)

Current Account (GER) (07:00)

Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)

Q4

Centamin (DI)

FINALS

Shoe Zone

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

ECO Animal Health Group

EGMS

Alpha Real Trust Ltd., PJSC Tatneft ADS

AGMS

Carr's Group, Regional Reit ZDP

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Barratt Developments, Greggs, Joules Group, Majestic Wine, Sainsbury (J), Stock Spirits Group , Ted Baker

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Bellway

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Barloworld Ltd.