While central bank interest rate decisions and developments on trade tariffs are likely to occupy much of investor focus in the coming week, there are also a number of companies still set to release earnings.
Analysts will be looking to Tencent's (0700.HK) annual results to see how the Chinese tech giant's investment in artificial intelligence (AI) is playing out, as competition in the space heats up.
In the chip sector, US semiconductor manufacturer Micron (MU) is due to release latest quarterly earnings, though guidance has already disappointed against expectations.
Meanwhile, investors will be keeping an eye on Nike's (NKE) latest results to see how the sportswear brand's turnaround efforts are progressing.
On the London market, investors will want to see how insurer Prudential (PRU.L) is performing against its long-term financial goals.
In the hospitality industry, investors will keeping an eye on commentary from JD Wetherspoon's (JDW.L) Tim Martin on how higher labour costs could impact the business.
Here's more on what to look out for:
Chinese tech giant Tencent (0700.HK) recently released a new AI model, which it said can reply faster to queries than DeepSeek's latest R1 model.
According to a Google translation, Tencent (0700.HK) said in a post on its WeChat channel in late February that unlike DeepSeek R1 and its Hunyuan T1 model that require "thinking before answering", the Hunyuan Turbo S model could achieve "instant reply" output answers and reduce first-word delay by 44%.
The release comes as competition ramps up in the AI space, with DeepSeek's latest lower cost model having rattled investors in US Big Tech, as it sparked questions over the level of spending on AI by these major companies.
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In Tencent's (0700.HK) third quarter results, CEO Ma Huateng said the company was seeing "increasingly seeing tangible benefits of deploying AI across our products and operations including marketing services and cloud, and will continue investing in AI technology, tools and solutions that assist users and partners".
For the quarter, Tencent (0700.HK) posted total revenues of CNY167.2bn (£17.84bn), up 8% on the same period in 2023.
Profits for the quarter came in at CNY54bn Chinese yuan, an increase of 47% on Q3 of the previous year.
Shares in Tencent (0700.HK) are up 24% since the start of the year and 80% over one year.
Shares in Micron (MU) sunk following the release of its first quarter results in December, after the US chipmaker's outlook disappointed against expectations.
Micron (MU) reported revenue of $8.1bn (£6.25bn) in the first quarter, which was in-line with expectations and up from $4.73bn for the same period in the previous year.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.79, which beat estimates and was up from a loss of $0.95 in the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year.
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However, second quarter guidance disappointed against expectations, with Micron (MU) guiding to revenue of $7.9bn, plus or minus $200m. The upper end of that guidance of $8.1bn, was still below Wall Street expectations of $8.99bn.
Micron (MU) guided to diluted earnings per share of $1.26, plus or minus $0.10, for the second quarter.
The chipmaker's CEO Sanjay Mehrotra warned that "consumer-oriented markets are weaker in the near term" but anticipated a return to growth in the second half of its fiscal year.
Micron (MU) stock has had a bumpy start to the year, seeing it swept up in broader tech sector volatility, leaving the stock just less than 13% in the green year-to-date.
NasdaqGS - Delayed Quote • USD At close: March 14 at 4:00:01 PM EDT
Shares in Nike (NKE) rose after the sportswear brand announced that it was partnering with Kim Kardashian's clothing brand Skims to create a new line for women.
This comes as CEO Elliott Hill, who took the helm in October, seeks to turnaround the business.
Hill warned on a second quarter earnings call in December that the turnaround would be challenging, as he looked to put sport back at the core of the company's focus and reinvest in brand storytelling.
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Nike (NKE) beat forecasts in the second quarter, with revenue of $12.35bn besting estimates of $12.13bn, though this was still down from the $13.39bn it reported in the previous year.
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.78 were also ahead of estimates of $0.63, but were under the $1.03 for the same quarter of the previous year.
According to a Reuters report, Nike (NKE) forecast that revenue would fall by low double-digits in the third quarter. This was more than analysts expectations of a 7.65% fall in revenue to $11.48bn, data compiled by LSEG showed.
Nike (NKE) shares are down 4% so far this year and have fallen 28% into the red on a one-year basis.
NYSE - Delayed Quote • USD At close: March 14 at 4:00:02 PM EDT
Shares in Prudential (PRU.L) hit their lowest point in January since 2012, with ongoing concerns about China's economy weighing on the FTSE-listed insurer.
Shares have since started to recover, after Prudential (PRU.L) said it was considering listing its Indian join venture ICICI Prudential Asset Management.
"After the spin-offs of London-headquartered fund manager M&G in 2019, a major fundraising in Hong Kong in 2021 and the demerger of America’s Jackson Life in 2022, Prudential (PRU.L) is now a play on demand for financial services in Asia and Africa," said AJ Bell's investment experts Russ Mould, Danni Hewson and Dan Coatsworth.
"The firm is a leader in savings and health and protection products and has a strong distribution network for bancassurance too (where banks sell insurance products)," they said. "Prudential’s (PRU.L) long-term strategy is to position itself for both population growth and also increased prosperity and the rise of the middle class, as this is potentially the sweet spot for increased demand for financial products and services."
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Prudential (PRU.L) CEO Anil Wadhwani set out three long-term financial goals for the business in 2023, including achieving a compound annual growth rate of 15% to 20% in new business profit. Secondly, the company will aim to deliver sustained growth in surplus capital and thirdly, to deliver double-digit growth in embedded value per share.
For 2024, analysts expect Prudential (PRU.L) to report broadly flat new business profit of $3bn, but for this figure to jump to $3.5bn in 2025.
As for a potential listing of ICICI Prudential Asset Management, AJ Bell's investment experts that analysts had valued this possible initial public offering (IPO) at between $8bn and $12bn.
"ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK.NS) owns a 51% stake and Prudential (PRU.L) the rest, so its stake would be worth between $4bn and $6bn, if those estimates prove accurate," they said. "Selling half of that, to meet Indian IPO regulations of a minimum free float of 25%, could therefore net Prudential (PRU.L) up to $2.5bn after tax, or around a tenth of the FTSE 100 member’s current stock market valuation."
"Prudential (PRU.L) could return this cash to shareholders via dividends or buybacks," they added. "It launched a $2bn buyback scheme in summer last year."
In a second quarter update in January, chairman of pub operator JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L), Tim Martin, reiterated that labour-related costs for the company would increase by £60m a year from April.
Many other UK business have warned of the cost impact of increases to the minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions, announced in the government's autumn budget.
"Government-mandated wage increases have a significantly bigger impact on pub and restaurant companies than supermarkets," said Martin.
"Given the public’s love of pubs, the only possible explanation for this tax discrepancy is that prime ministers and other legislators, in the 45 years since Wetherspoon started trading, have been dinner party goers, rather than pub goers," he claimed.
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Martin called on prime minister Keir Starmer to "redress this imbalance" and he said that while the company was "confident of a reasonable outcome for the year", forecasting was more difficult given the increased costs.
In the update, JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L) reported sales were up 5.1% on the previous year, though investors will be looking to its final half-year results for more detailed figures.
Derren Nathan, head of equity analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said: "Investors will be keen to hear if growths picked up again so far in the second half after consumer confidence showed some feint signs of improvement."
He said that profitability and cost control would be in focus, which should also help "give some clue as to whether the pub group is on track to hit consensus forecasts, which expects a 2.7% rise in operating profit, to £143.3m ($185.5m), this year."
"Markets will also want some colour on the direction of the dividends which returned after the final results for the first time since the pandemic," he added.
Monday 17 March
Diversified Energy Company (DEC.L)
F&C Investment Trust (FCIT.L)
Marshalls (MSLH.L)
Phoenix Group (PHNX.L)
Vanquis Banking (VANQ.L)
Textron (TXT)
Tuesday 18 March
Computacenter (CCC.L)
Harworth Group (HWG.L)
SThree (STEM.L)
Travis Perkins (TPK.L)
Trustpilot Group (TRST.L)
Sabre Insurance (SBRE.L)
Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB1.L)
Midwich (MIDW.L)
Yu (YU.L)
Close Brothers (CBG.L)
Xiaomi (1810.HK)
Tencent Music (TME)
China Unicom (0762.HK)
Brembo (BRE.MI)
Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO)
Wednesday 19 March
Essentra (ESNT.L)
M&G (MNG.L)
Softcat (SCT.L)
Balfour Beatty (BBY.L)
Hill & Smith (HILS.L)
Hochschild Mining (HOC.L)
Ferrexpo (FXPO.L)
Forterra (FORT.L)
Vonovia (VNA.DE)
Jeronimo Martins (JMT.LS)
Swatch (UHR.SW)
General Mills (GIS)
Thursday 20 March
Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY.L)
Energean (ENOG.L)
Foresight Solar Fund (FSFL.L)
Investec (INVP.L)
Central Asia Metals (CAML.L)
James Fisher (FSJ.L)
Gulf Keystone Petroluem (GKP.L)
Ping An Insurance (601318.SS)
Geely Auto (0175.HK)
China Mobile (0941.HK)
Hapag-Lloyd (HLAG.DE)
RWE (RWE.DE)
Verbund (VER.VI)
RTL (RRTL.DE)
Accenture (ACN)
FedEx (FDX)
Darden Restaurants (DRI)
Friday 21 March
Temple Bar Investment Trust (TMPL.L)
Meituan (3690.HK)
Carnival (CCL)
Nio (NIO)
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