Lloyds Banking Group, which trades north of the border as Bank of Scotland and Halifax, was among the top performing FTSE 100 stocks last year, despite a 36% fall in third quarter profits and taking a hit from the motor finance scandal.
Costs swelled 37% to reach £3.18 billion for the quarter, including £875m of remediation costs, of which £800m was in relation to the impact of potential motor finance commission arrangements.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said that the motor provision is not “life-threatening and without that distraction the underlying progress remains strong”.
As for general trading and the outlook, banks are often seen as a barometer of the economy so analysts will look pointers to business and consumer confidence, including the direction of the mortgage market,.
The US Federal Reserve is braced for changes amid the spat with Donald Trump. In the meantime, it isn’t expected to change interest rates.
Four of the so-called Magnificent Seven report this week, with markets keen to find out whether the AI boom still has momentum.
AI will be a focus when Apple reports its first quarter results on Thursday, with investors keeping an eye out for any more detail on the company’s plans in this space.
“In some ways, Apple seems the least committed of the Magnificent Seven to heavy capital investment on AI, since capital investment remains fairly steady at around 3% of sales,” said AJ Bell’s analysts.
“Investors have been willing to keep backing the firm, despite an apparent lack of clarity on its AI strategy, its ongoing dependence upon the 19-year-old iPhone and suggestions that boss Tim Cook may step down in 2026.”
In the first week of January, Tesla reported fourth quarter deliveries that missed forecasts, with a total of 418,227, compared to expectations of just under 423,000. For the full year, Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles, which was in line with expectations but represented an 8% drop compared to 2024, marking the second year in a row of annual sales declines.
On the back of these figures, analyst consensus forecasts expect a 3% fall in total sales for the fourth quarter to $25bn (£18.5bn) and a 40% drop in earnings per share (EPS) to $0.44, according to data provided by AJ Bell.
For the year, analysts expect to see a 3% decline in sales to $95bn and a one-third fall in EPS to $1.61.
DIARY
Monday 26 January
- Trading statement from Costain
- Scottish Affairs Committee hears evidence on BBC Scotland
Tuesday 27 January
- Trading statements from Dr Martens, Sage and Evoke
Wednesday 28 January
- Trading statements from Paragon Banking, Pets at Home and Hargreaves Services
- Q4 figures from Meta and Tesla
- BRC UK shop price index
Thursday 29 January
- Full-year results from Crest Nicholson, Lloyds Banking Group
- First-half results from Renishaw and Rank
- Trading statements or quarterly results from Antofagasta, Easyjet, Glencore, Saga, Wizz Air, Greencore, CVS Group and Halfords
- Q1 figures from Apple
- Nationwide UK house price survey
Friday 30 January
- UK mortgage approvals
- EU GDP growth
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