Friday preview: UK GDP in focus

(Sharecast News) - No FTSE 350 news of note is due on Friday, but investors will eye UK October GDP figures, along with manufacturing and industrial production, and German inflation data for November. All the data releases are due at 0700 GMT.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, noted that UK GDP fell by 0.1% in September, so the focus for the October reading is whether growth bounced back as we entered the fourth quarter.

"Analysts are expecting a small uptick of 0.1%, however, it all depends on how the car sector performs after the Jaguar Land Rover car cyber-attack shutdown production in September, which weighed heavily on national growth," she said.

"The recent PMI data was stronger than expected, which noted a rebound in car production. However, we doubt that there was broad-based strength in the economy in October, as we waited for the dreaded Budget, which ended up being as bad, or worse, than feared.

"Overall, some good news for the UK economy could be on the cards this week, although we continue to think that the underlying trend is for the economy to stall in the coming months."

Friday December 12

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

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QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

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AGMS

Thor Explorations Ltd (DI), Ultimate Products , Westmount Energy Ltd.

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (07:00)

Gross Domestic Product (07:00)

Index of Services (07:00)

Industrial Production (07:00)

Manufacturing Production (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Gattaca, James Halstead, New Star Investment Trust, SThree