Thursday preview: U.S. CPI, Easyjet in focus

All eyes on Thursday will be on the release of the U.S. consumer price report for the month of September.

Consensus is for a dip in the year-on-year rate of increase in prices from 3.7% for August to 3.6% last month.

Core CPI meanwhile is expected to have slowed by two tenths of a percentage point to reach an annual rate of

Against that backdrop, at 0700 BST the Office for National Statistics will release its estimate of UK gross domestic product growth in August (consensus: 0.3%).

And overnight the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors will release its House Price Balance for September.

Speeches from top officials at the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve are also scheduled for throughout the session.

Among the latter, Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic was due to deliver a speech at 1800 BST, followed by his peer at the Boston Fed at 2100 BST.

In the corporate space, all eyes will be on EasyJet's fiscal fourth quarter results.

Revenues per seat are expected to be 10% higher year-on-year with total revenues seen reaching £3.2bn for pre-tax profits of £691m.

Meanwhile, capacity is seen hitting 29m during the quarter.

However, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, has flagged the possibility that capacity might have been lower due to the air traffic control restrictions at Gatwick.

So too, Easyjet's forecast that it would add 15% more capacity during the next winter might now be in doubt for the same reason, he said.

Thursday 12 October

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Macfarlane Group, TT Electronics

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Argentex Group , Breedon Group , Howden Joinery Group, Inspired, Kerry Group 'A' Shares (CDI), Kingfisher, Likewise Group, M. P. Evans Group, Octopus AIM VCT 2, Panther Securities, Persimmon, Personal Group Holdings, Senior, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Stelrad Group , Taylor Wimpey, Tesco, WPP

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Duke Royalty Limited, GSK

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited , BlackRock Latin American Inv Trust, I3 Energy , JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, Primary Health Properties, Supermarket Income Reit

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

GMS

Sutton Harbour Group

FINALS

Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Scancell Holdings

EGMS

PetroNeft Resources (CDI)

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

easyJet, easyJet, Hays

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

Colefax Group, Diageo, Oxford Instruments, South32 Limited (DI)

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

JPMorgan Mid Cap Inv Trust, Strategic Equity Capital