FTSE 100 and Dow Jones seen higher on Monday, finals from Standard Chartered and HSBC eyed

The earnings season in the banking sector is set to continue next week with HSBC (LSE: HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) due to release their annual results after bailed out banks Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) reported on their full year figures. Lloyds disappointed with a £6.3 billion loss following last year’s loss of £6.7 billion after writing down more bad debts, while RBS also posted a giant loss of £3.6 billion, which, however, was lower than the projected loss of over £5.5 billion, helping the bank to gains.
Lloyds simultaneously forecast a 1.8% UK GDP growth for both 2010 and 2011.
Peer Barclays (LSE: BARC) reported on its full year results earlier this month. Income for the 12 month period ended 31 December 2009 reached record levels of £30.986 billion, up 34% on the previous year as it continued to reap the benefit of being one of the few banks to avoid financial support from the government during the credit crunch.
Group profit before tax beat expectations, nearly doubling to £11.642 billion, but also massaged by a one-off gain on the disposal of Barclays Global Investors in 2009, which generated a gain of £6.331 billion. Retained earnings for the full were £9.6 billion, triple the level in 2008, while the cost:income ratio improved by 4% to 58%.
Top executives at all three banks tended to turn down their full year bonuses, while paying out billions of pounds to staff.
HSBC will report on its final results on Monday, while Standard Chartered will release its full year figures on Wednesday.
Publisher Pearson (LSE: PSON), insurance underwriters Amlin (LSE: AML) and language localisation services provider SDL International (LSE: SDL) will also report on their final results on Monday.
Car insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM), silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), ground engineering company Keller Group (LSE: KLR), telecom company Telit Communications (AIM: TCM), home builder Persimmon (LSE: PSN) and engineering firm Meggitt (LSE: MGGT) will report on Tuesday.
Restaurant Group (LSE: RTN), public transport operator Arriva (LSE: ARI), house builder Taylor Whimpey (LSE: TW) and home credit company International Personal Finance (LSE: IPF) will release their final reports on Wednesday.
Temporary power provider Aggreko (LSE: SGK), insurer Aviva (LSE: AV), construction company Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY), valve manufacturer Spirax-Sarco (LSE: SPX) and telecom company Spirent (LSE: SPT) will report on their full year results on Thursday.
Recruitment business Michael Page International (LSE: MPI) and communications services group WPP (LSE: WPP) will report on Friday.
Trading statements from copper miner Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and hospitality company Whitbread (LSE: WTB) are due on Thursday. This day will also mark Bank of England’s announcement of its decision on the lending rate, though it is highly unlikely that it will be increased.
Other major economic updates that are due this week include PMI manufacturing data on Monday, ISM (Institute of Supply Management) US services and non-manufacturing updates on Wednesday, the Fed’s Beige Book survey of regional economic conditions in the US and factory orders data on Thursday and non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate updates form the US Labor Department on Friday.
The FTSE 100 is seen opening 15 points, or roughly 0.3% higher on Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is projected to gain 12 points, or 0.1%.

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