Scott Reid: US bank bonus issue threatens to steal retail thunder

Public and political anger is mounting on this side of the Atlantic amid reports banks are preparing to return to big handouts in this year's bonus round, and the American sector will be watched closely as an indicator of what is in store from UK players.

Citibank and investment banking star Goldman Sachs kick off the week's reporting. Citi - part-state owned after being bailed out by the US government during the financial crisis - clawed its way back into profit with earnings of $2.15 billion (1.4bn) in the third quarter against steep losses a year earlier thanks to a further fall in bad debts. However, earnings were 20 per cent lower than the previous three months after a 17 per cent drop in its securities and banking arm profits as the boom in fees seen after the recovery slowed.

This was a similar trend at Goldman Sachs, but bonuses will take centre stage for the firm, which employs some 5,500 staff in London. It had already earmarked $13.1bn for the first nine months of 2010.

Fellow Wall Street giants Morgan Stanley and Bank of America follow with their results on Thursday and Friday, capping a key week for the global banking sector.

Low-cost airline EasyJet is likely to confirm that it emerged relatively unscathed from December's snow disruption when it posts a trading update on Thursday.

The carrier's chief executive Carolyn McCall - appointed last summer - has achieved success early in her tenure.

As well as the resilient trading, she has overseen a resolution of the dispute with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who stepped down from the board in May.

Stelios, who owns the rights to the "easy" brand name and has a 38 per cent stake in EasyJet with the rest of his family, agreed to allow the airline to carry on using its name in return for receiving 0.25 per cent of the airline's annual revenues.

EasyJet recently revealed that pre-tax profits nearly trebled to 154 million in the year to 30 September - an increase of 99.3m.

The profits rise was achieved despite disruption caused by the Icelandic ash cloud and snowy weather at the start of 2010.

Fourth-quarter results from bookmaker William Hill will be watched on Wednesday to see if the group continued its recent strong run of form.

It advised earlier in the year that profits were likely to be at the upper end of City expectations following strong results and a boost from its best World Cup performance yet.

The analyst consensus is for operating profits of 264m in 2010, a 4 per cent increase on the previous year, although this figure will not be released until the company gives its final results later in the year.

Carphone Warehouse is expected to shed more light on the performance of its Best Buy electronics stores when it releases third-quarter figures tomorrow.

The mobile phone giant has opened six stores in the UK as part of a joint-venture with US-based Best Buy, which aims to throw down the gauntlet to established players Comet and Currys by offering cheaper prices, trade-in deals and American-style customer service.

However, numerous electronics retailers have blamed the Arctic weather for poor performance over the key Christmas trading period.

Carphone Warehouse also faces tough comparatives after reporting an 8.3 per cent increase in UK third-quarter like-for-like revenues last year.

Analysts are expecting like-for-like sales through its 2,450 stores across nine European countries to increase by 1 per cent in the third quarter.

Primark owner AB Foods was one of the FTSE 100 success stories in 2010 and investors will be hoping its Q1 update on Thursday will start 2011 in the same vein. The company saw its share price rocket 44 per cent last year, making it one of the Footsie's top ten performing companies.