Shell PLC, BT Group PLC and Vodafone PLC and Bank of England in the

Several FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 names are due to update investors in the coming week, including Shell, BT Group, Vodafone, Glencore, Compass and Virgin Money. 

A widely expected second Bank of England rate hike in as many months will dominate the domestic agenda for the week, while the new month of February brings a torrent of economic data, including the big US jobs report at the end of the week. 

US earnings highlights in the coming week include tech titans Alphabet, Amazon, AMD, Meta Platforms (Facebook), Qualcomm, Snap and Spotify; carmakers Ford Motor and General Motors; energy giants ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and ExxonMobil; and big pharma pair Eli Lilly and Merck. 

MONDAY 31 JAN 

Ryanair

On Monday, as the last day of January will bring some extra month-end flows on stock markets as major investors carry out portfolio rebalancing. 

In company news, there will be quarterly numbers from Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE:RYA), which while no longer listed in London post-Brexit, is still of interest to sector followers and those interested in the Dublin-quoted airline.  

Just before Christmas, the budget carrier warned that profits for the year would be worse than previous guidance as Christmas and New Year bookings were hit by the coronavirus Omicron variant and associated travel restrictions across Europe.  

But Ryanair, along with rivals easyJet and Wizz Air, said this month that they will add capacity to meet an expected a surge in people heading to sunnier climes. 

For its third quarter just past, revenue is forecast to come in at €1.5bn with a loss before tax of €81mln, said broker Peel Hunt, predicting that with forward bookings for the summer increasing rapidly “an uplift in yields more than sufficient to mitigate rising fuel and carbon prices”. 

In macro matters, Monday may see some examination of Chinese manufacturing data from the weekend, plus EU gross domestic product numbers.  

TUESDAY 1 FEB 

Viring Money UK

Ahead of its bigger banking rivals later in the month, Virgin Money UK PLC (LSE:VMUK) will kick off the sector’s reporting season, reporting on the three months to 31 December, the first quarter of its fiscal year. 

Back in November, chief executive David Duffy hailed the challenger bank’s return to statutory pre-tax profits and the improved net interest margin (NIM), reduced costs, improved impairments and strong capital levels that enabled a proposed reinstatement of dividends. 

Virgin Money also last year said it would accelerate the next stage of its ‘digital first’ strategy, including the development of a digital wallet to rival the fintech unicorns chomping into the banking sector’s breakfast. 

In this update investors and analysts will be looking for comment on what is an intense mortgage market, as well as movement in NIM and guidance for future periods, given the