London Week Ahead: All eyes on UK GDP and Fed’s minutes
TRADERS will get a better glimpse into the British economy this week when a further estimate of second quarter economic growth is published at the end of the week.
The Office for National Statistics will give a revaluation of the 0.6 per cent advance it recorded between April and June this year on Friday, with an upgrade likely to give further encouragement to the UK’s nascent recovery.
Elsewhere, markets will be eyeing the release of minutes from an influential US Federal Reserve meeting, looking for hints about tapering its quantitative easing programme.
The central bank will publish minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee, which oversees the programme, from its meeting at the end of July on Wednesday.
The Confederation of British Industry also publishes its industrial trends survey for orders on the same day.
In the corporate calendar, it’s a quiet week results-wise for blue chip companies. House builder Bovis reports half year results today with analysts expecting the FTSE 250 listed company to post soaring profits thanks to the government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Fellow housebuilder Persimmon is expected to report steady half year results tomorrow, while Thursday sees construction firm Carillion report. Newly-merged Glencore Xstrata is set to give a first-half update tomorrow, with analysts expecting asset writedowns.