This Week: With shoppers appearing to favour electrical items over jewellery at Christmas, expectations have been raised for resilient trading figures at Dixons and Currys owner, DSG International, when it reports results on Wednesday.
Deutsche Bank expects half-year profits of £94 million (€134.6 million), down from £122 million last year, but with like-for-like sales at Dixons and Currys returning to positive territory over the Christmas-focused second-half of the year.
The improvement at Dixons, Currys and its other European electrical businesses will be needed, as Deutsche Bank has forecast continued weakness from the company's computing and communications division.
Books and music retailer HMV, which struggled in the Christmas sales period, issues its interim results on Wednesday, while Tesco releases a trading update. Nerves will have been frayed by HMV after the Waterstone's owner revealed sales had been hurt by supermarkets and firms like Amazon. Analysts will be looking for Tesco to maintain its like-for-like sales performance at 5.5 per cent.
The week also brings results for several major technology companies, including Intel, IBM and Yahoo tomorrow, Apple and eBay on Wednesday, and Motorola and Xilinx on Thursday.
In economic news, Irish, euro-zone, US, British and German consumer prices for December will all be released this week.
Monday
AGM: Frontera Resources.
Indicators: British producer prices (Dec); Japanese industrial capacity (Nov).
Others: New York Stock Exchange closes for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday; European Parliament January plenary session by the Council of Ministers addresses implications of the current proposal for public services, workers' rights and employment standards, the environment and consumer protection.
Tuesday
Results: Visa Europe, Pace Microtechnology (H1), Continental Airlines, Intel, IBM and Yahoo.
AGM: Corpora.
Meetings: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Foresight Business Studies group host discussion on leadership, chaired by Senator Shane Ross (Edmund Burke Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin).
Indicators: US industrial production (Dec); British consumer prices (Dec) and retail prices (Dec); German consumer prices (Dec); Japanese confidence index (Dec).
Others: Tesco issues a trading update; Pearson issues 2005 trade figures; Cairn Energy issues 2005 trade figures; Thorntons issues H1 trade figures.
Wednesday
Results: ASML, Ericsson (Q4), Bespak (H1), DSG International (H1), DTZ Holdings (H1), HMV (H1), Apple (Q1), eBay, JP Morgan Chase, State Street and Logitech (Q3).
AGM: Talarius (egm).
Meetings: The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service discusses endowment mortgages with the Financial Regulator and the Financial Services Ombudsman; International Fund for Ireland hosts meeting on strategy in a changing Ireland (Merrion Hotel, Dublin).
Indicators: Euro-zone industrial production (Nov); US consumer prices (Dec) and real earnings (Dec); British unemployment (Nov) and average earnings (Nov).
Others: SABMiller issues Q3 trade figures; Weir and Woolworths issue 2005 trade figures.
Thursday
Results: Novartis, St James's Place (Q4), Vedanta Resources (Q3), Motorola, Pfizer and Xilinx (Q3).
AGM: Enterprise Inns.
Indicators: Irish consumer prices (Dec) and external trade (Dec); euro-zone consumer prices (Dec) and Eurostat trade (Nov); US building permits (Dec) and housing starts (Dec); German producer prices (Dec).
Others: McInerney issues 2005 trading statement; European Central Bank releases monthly bulletin.
Friday
Results: Citigroup and General Electric.
AGM: Aberdeen Asset Management, Wolverhampton & Dudley, Bits Corp (egm) and Scott Tod (egm).
Indicators: Irish construction employment (Dec) and retail sales (Nov); British net borrowing (Dec); French consumer spending (Dec).
Others: Bank of Japan and Swedish Riksbank announce monetary rates decisions.
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