Week ahead: UK retailers and grocers to steal the show

First up is Sainsbury on Wednesday with an update on third-quarter trading, where analysts at Jefferies forecast an acceleration in grocery sales growth to 9.5% from 8.9% in the second quarter. However, total like-for-like sales excluding fuel are expected to grow by 7.6%, weighed down by a 3% drop in clothing sales.

Tesco will deliver its trading update for the 19 weeks to 6 January on Thursday. Analysts at Citi said they expect Tesco to report strong third-quarter trading, with UK like-for-like sales up 7.5%, but said there was upside risk to full-year profit forecasts on the back of market share gains and "lingering" food inflation.

"Market share data continues to show a rational inflationary picture and recovery in mix/volumes are being well-capitalised on by both TSCO and SBRY," Jefferies said.

Marks & Spencer will also report a Christmas trading update on Thursday, with all eyes on whether the retailer will say anything about full-year guidance after November's positive first-half results "when some analysts felt management were doing their best to put a lid on expectations, so that they did not get too carried away", according to AJ Bell.

"M&S made £360 million in underlying pre-tax profit in the first half and over the last ten years it has made an average of £100 million more in the second half, thanks in part to Christmas. This is why some analysts argued M&S was sandbagging the numbers," AJ Bell said.

Also scheduled are third-quarter results from discount retailer B&M, interim results from Games Workshop and full-year figures from Shoe Zone on Tuesday, and a fourth-quarter update from Greggs on Wednesday.

Retail sector indicators are also scheduled for Tuesday, like the BRC-KPMG UK retail sales index for December, and the latest monthly grocery sales numbers from Nielsen.

Further afield, we'll see the start of fourth-quarter earnings season in the US with banking giants JPMorgan Chase, bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all due to unveil their latest figures on Friday.

Monday January 08

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Cropper (James), Intermediate Capital Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00)

Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00)

Consumer Confidence (EU) (10:00)

Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00)

Factory Orders (GER) (07:00)

Industrial Confidence (EU) (10:00)

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

Services Sentiment (EU) (10:00)

GMS

Personal Assets Trust

EGMS

Plus500 Ltd (DI)

Tuesday January 09

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (US) (13:30)

Industrial Production (GER) (07:00)

Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)

AGMS

Agriterra LD

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI), Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRC Sales Monitor (00:01)

Wednesday January 10

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Mercia Asset Management, Severn Trent, Volex, VP

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Assura

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Wholesales Inventories (US) (15:00)

GMS

Hummingbird Resources, Scirocco Energy , Scirocco Energy , Versarien

AGMS

Ironveld

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Greggs, Persimmon, Sainsbury (J)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Bellway, Fidelity Special Values

Thursday January 11

INTERIMS

Knights Group Holdings

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

3i Infrastructure, CMC Markets, Michelmersh Brick Holdings, National Grid, TR Property Inv Trust, Worldwide Healthcare Trust

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Ashtead Group, Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV, SSE, Walker Crips Group, XPS Pensions Group

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

GSK

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited , BlackRock Latin American Inv Trust, Ecora Resources, JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, Primary Health Properties, Supermarket Income Reit

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

FINALS

Atrato Onsite Energy

AGMS

JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust, Orchard Funding Group , Pennpetro Energy

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Grafton Group Ut (CDI), Hilton Food Group, Marks & Spencer Group, Taylor Wimpey, Tesco, Tesco, Whitbread

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

RICS Housing Market Survey (00:01)

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

AJ Bell, Character Group, DotDigital Group, Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust, Sage Group, Smiths News , WH Smith

Friday January 12

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

3i Group, Caffyns, Celebrus Technologies, CML Microsystems, DSW Capital, FIH Group , Helical, Impellam Group, Marks & Spencer Group, Octopus AIM VCT, Oxford Instruments, Pets at Home Group , PHSC, Redde Northgate, Supreme

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Duke Royalty Limited, Regional REIT Limited, Tritax Eurobox (EUR), Tritax Eurobox (GBP)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Producer Price Index (US) (13:30)

U. of Michigan Confidence (Prelim) (US) (15:00)

GMS

ADVFN

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Associated British Foods

AGMS

Ashington Innovation

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Vistry Group , Wood Group (John), Wood Group (John)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of trade (07:00)

Balance of Trade (EU) (07:00)

Gross Domestic Product (07:00)

Index of Services (07:00)

Industrial Production (07:00)

Manufacturing Production (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Associated British Foods, Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust