Wednesday preview: Bank of England releases minutes of policy meeting

The Bank of England (BoE) on Wednesday releases minutes of its last meeting, potentially offering further insight on the central bank’s decision to keep policy unchanged.

The BoE on 8 January maintained its benchmark interest rate at 0.5% and the size of its asset purchase programme at £375bn, as expected by the market.

Low inflation, dragged mainly by oil prices, has given the Bank little reason to raise interest rates, which have been held at 0.5% since March 2009.

UK inflation fell to a 12-year low of 1% in November.

Along with the BoE’s minutes, a report on the state of the UK labour market will be released, including figures on employment, the unemployment rate, jobless claims and weekly earnings.

Analysts see the number of people with jobs rising by 74,000 over the three months to November. The unemployment rate is forecast to drop to 5.9% in the same period from 6% previously.

Jobless claims may have fallen 25,000 in December, according to analysts’ estimates, while weekly earnings are pegged to increase 1.9% year-on-year over the three months to November.

Stateside sees the release of housing starts data for December and mortgage applications for the week to 16 January.
Company-wise, Dixons Carphone and SABMiller report third quarter interims. Wetherspoon and WH Smith will publish full-year trading updates.

Wednesday 21 January

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Charles Stanley Group

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Assura Group Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Building Permits (US) (13:30)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (16:00)
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS
Computacenter

IMSS
FirstGroup, Halfords Group, Land Securities Group

DRILLING REPORT
Hochschild Mining

AGMS
Diploma, Superglass Holdings, Troy Income & Growth Trust, WH Smith

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
SABMiller, Wetherspoon (J.D.)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)
Claimant Count Rate (09:30)
Unemployment Rate (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Majedie Investments