Tuesday preview: Global PMIs, Barclays in focus

Tuesday's market spotlight would be on a raft of survey results for manufacturing and services in the UK, euro area and US.

At 0930 BST, HCOB's Purchasing Managers' surveys were expected to reveal that the downturn in both sectors eased a tad in the UK during the month of October.

Similar survey results were expected in the euro area, but the opposite in the case of the States.

Earlier, at 0700 BST the Office for National Statistics was expected to announce that the rate of unemployment in the UK was steady over the three months ending in August at 4.3%.

Employment however was expected to have shrunk by 198,000.

Also due out were surveys for German consumer confidence in November and the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's regional factory survey.

On the corporate side of things, Barclays was scheduled to announce its third quarter earnings.

Consensus was for revenues to come in at £6.35bn, "with close attention likely to be on the investment bank given the strong numbers that we’ve seen from US banks in this area," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Tuesday 24 October

FINALS

Softcat, Scancell Holdings

INTERIMS

FD Technologies Public Limited Company

Q3

Barclays

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bunzl, Travis Perkins, W.A.G Payment Solutions

AGMs

W H Ireland Group, Accrol Group Holdings, Oneiro Energy, Adalan Ventures

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Claimant Count Rate (07:00)

Unemployment Rate (07:00)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)