Wednesday preview: US retail sales, Barclays in the spotlight

Chief among those would be the retail sales report for January (consensus: 1.7% month-on-month) at 1330 GMT, which was expected to show a rebound in consumption, in part at least due to the warmer than usual temperatures and the low base of comparison.

Indeed, the key question was to what extent weather was playing a role in the data and to what degree strength in the jobs market, among other factors, was.

Also set for release, at 1415 GMT, were industrial production data for that same month.

Investors were likely to also be closely watching the Empire State factory index for February to see if the previous month's significant drop was unwound or not.

Against that backdrop, at 0700 GMT the Office for National Statistics would publish UK consumer price data for the month of January.

Consensus is for a decline in the annual rate of increase in harmonised consumer prices from December's pace of 9.2% to 9.0% for last month.

In non-harmonised terms, the annual rate of increase in CPI was seen slowing from 10.5% to 10.2% and by one tenth of a percentage point at the core level to 6.2%.

In the euro area meanwhile, at 1400 GMT European Central Bank boss, Christine Lagarde, was due to participate in a plenary debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Earlier, at 1000 GMT, Eurostat would release industrial production figures for the euro area in December.

On the corporate side of things, Barclays was set to post full-year results.

For the first nine months of the year, the lender announced a 22% decline in attributable profits.

"The last 12 months have been somewhat of a mixed bag for Barclays share price, with the shares dropping to an 18-month low last October," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"We’ve seen a decent rebound since then but this year has been a challenging one for the bank. The bank has faced challenges over litigation as well as governance [...]."

At the time of its third quarter results, the lender guided towards full-year operating expenses of £16.7bn and said that it was targeting a CET1 ratio in the range of 13-14% and a return on tangible equity of more than 10%.

Wednesday 15 February

INTERIMS

Dunelm Group, Hargreaves Lansdown, Pan African Resources

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Shaftesbury

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Ecora Resources, Marsh & Mclennan Cos Inc.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (EU) (10:00)

Business Inventories (US) (15:00)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

FOMC Interest Rate Minutes (US) (19:00)

Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Retail Sales (US) (13:30)

Retail Sales Less Autos (US) (13:30)

Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)

GMS

Softline Holding GDR (REG S)

FINALS

Barclays

ANNUAL REPORT

Glencore

EGMS

Circle Property

AGMS

Blencowe Resources , GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (07:00)

Producer Price Index (07:00)

Retail Price Index (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust