Thursday preview: Bernanke addresses Senate Banking Committee

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will on Thursday testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee, a day after addressing the House Financial Services Committee. His monetary policy report to the US Congress this week is likely to be his last as he is expected to step down in January.In his speech Wednesday, Bernanke reiterated that central bank expects to begin the tapering of its quantitative easing later this year provided the economy remained on track for recovery.But he said nothing was set in stone as the plan may change if the economic outlook turned for the worse."Our asset purchases depend on economic and financial developments, but they are by no means on a preset course," he said.Bernanke's comments mirrored his announcement last month that the central bank would gradually slow its $85bn-a-month in asset purchases later this year and end it all together by 2014 as long as jobs market in the US improves as anticipated.He has tried to reassure markets that a tapering of quantitative easing does not mean a rise in interest rates. His speech tomorrow is sure to rattle markets as it did today when he addressed the House.Also on Thursday, initial jobless claims figures in the US will be released along with Bloomberg's Consumer Confidence report.It comes a day after a report from the Office for National Statistics showed the number of people in the UK seeking unemployment claims fell in June by 21,000, to 1.4m. The unemployment rate for the three months to May, was steady at 7.8% (consensus: 7.8%), albeit down by 0.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.The data will be followed up on Thursday with more UK economic reports including retail sales and trends in lending.On the company front will be results out from Sports Direct, Kingfisher and Mothercare.Thursday July 18thINTERIMSBreedon Aggregates Ltd., Norsk Hydro ASAINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEEdinburgh Worldwide Inv TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Payments (EU) (09:00)Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)Current Account (EU) (09:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Leading Indicators (US) (15:00)Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00)Q2Norsk Hydro ASAFINALSSports Direct InternationalAGMSB.P. Marsh & Partners, JPMorgan European Inv Trust Growth Shares, JPMorgan European Investment Trust , Land Securities Group, Mckay Securities, Mothercare, Speedy HireTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSKingfisher, MothercareUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSInternet Retail Sales (09:30)Retail Sales (09:30)Trends in Lending (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBritish Polythene Industries, Tongaat-Hulett Ltd.RD