THE WEEK AHEAD
COMPANY NEWS
● Several large American technology companies will report their results after UK trading hours on Tuesday, including Apple, IBM and Western Digital.
● As will remaining British retailers, including the fashion group Burberry and Carphone Warehouse.
● The budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon will release a trading update on Wednesday, as will bookmaker William Hill.
● Wednesday will also see several large US banks, including the Bank of New York Mellon, and Goldman Sachs, report their results.
● The Wolseley Group is holding its AGM on Thursday.
ECONOMICS NEWS
● The Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser will speak in Santiago, Chile today
● The Rightmove British house price index for January 2011 will be released today
● The German ZEW survey and the US Empire manufacturing survey are both released today.
● Britain’s inflation figures (CPI and RPI) for December will be released tomorrow. HSBC expects CPI inflation to reach 3.5 per cent.
● The Bank of Canada decides on its headline interest rate tomorrow. It is unanimously expected by observers to hold them at 1.00 per cent.
● The ILO unemployment statistics for November for the UK are to be released on Wednesday.
● The claimant count of UK unemployed workers for December is also released on Wednesday.
● China is to publish its GDP for the fourth quarter of 2010 and CPI inflation figures for December on Thursday.
● On Friday, the UK will release retail sales figures excluding autos and fuels for December.
● The closely watched Ifo business climate report for Germany will also be released on Friday. It is widely expected to improve.
POLITICAL NEWS
● EU finance ministers will meet in Brussels today and tomorrow to discuss the details of the Eurozone’s €440bn bail out fund.
● Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is visiting Washington on Wednesday for a state dinner. China’s currency is likely to be a topic of conversation.
● Wednesday may also see the first vote on a controversial Republican bill to repeal healthcare reform in the US.
● Tony Blair is to make his second appearance before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war on Friday.