Tuesday preview: UK employment, US producer prices in focus

The focus in financial markets on Tuesday will be on the October employment report with investors keen to assess the first full month of data following the end of the government's furlough scheme.

Economists at Barclays Research anticipate a further dip in the unemployment rate from 4.3% in the month before to 4.2% in October, while employment is expected to have registered one of the largest in recent years.

Nevertheless, they said that they would also be watching to see the data on hours worked in the Labour Force Survey, as it was possible that many furloughed workers might be working reduced hours "which would signal more underlying labour market slack than headline indicators suggest."

In any case, chipped in Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK: "With recent events around the Omicron variant adding to the uncertainty, there is no guarantee that another decent set of unemployment numbers, and another rise in headline CPI, will tee us up for a Thursday rate increase.

"Expectations are for ILO unemployment to fall further to 4.2%, while CPI is expected to rise to 4.7%. Under normal circumstances this would trigger some sort of response, from the central bank, however with the implementation of tighter restrictions at the end of last week, it’s now quite likely the Bank of England will wait until February."

Stateside meanwhile, the spotlight will be on a report on factory gate prices for November and a reading on the National Federation of Independent Businesses's small business optimism index.

Across the Channel, investors will be thumbing through industrial production for the month of October and rate-setters in Hungary are set to meet to decide on interest rates.

Tuesday 14 December

INTERIMS

Goodwin Plc, Purplebricks Group, Yourgene Health

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Volex

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)

Producer Price Index (US) (13:30)

FINALS

Chemring Group, Driver Group, RWS Holdings

AGMS

Aeorema Communications, Blancco Technology Group, Blancco Technology Group, CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income , Fidelity Special Values, Greatland Gold, Kin and Carta , Marwyn Value Investors Limited, Mc Mining Limited, Target Healthcare Reit Ltd

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Claimant Count Rate (07:00)

Unemployment Rate (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

NOTTS.B.S. 7 7/8% PERM INT BEARING SHS, Pan African Resources