Wednesday preview: UK GDP, US durable goods orders, Compass reports

UK gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3% in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics is expected to confirm on Wednesday.

Ahead of the release, a Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney on Tuesday said the prolonged slowdown in Eurozone poses the biggest threat to the UK economy.

However, on the same day BoE policymaker Kristen Forbes said that the outlook for the global economy may not be as weak as fellow Monetary Policy Committee members predict, weighing less on the UK than expected. She told lawmakers in Britain's parliament that recent international economic data had been stronger.

In the US, a report on durable goods orders in October will be in focus on Wednesday. Analysts predicted a 0.6% fall, following a 1.1% drop in September.

On the company front, Compass reports its annual results. Numis predicts earnings before interest and tax to fall slightly to £1.260bn from £1.265, due to a strong sterling against the US dollar.

“There should be a significant currency benefit in FY15E given that recent US$ strength (50% of EBIT, pre central overheads is generated from North America)," the broker said.

“We believe that Compass continues to have attractive structural growth prospects driven by a global trend towards outsourcing. The biggest risk at present (at least to sentiment) is that CEO Richard Cousins, who is currently a non-exec at Tesco, assumes greater responsibilities at the troubled supermarket chain.”

Wednesday 26 November

INTERIMS
600 Group, Findel, First Property Group, Hogg Robinson Group, IGas Energy, LondonMetric Property, Omega Diagnostics Group, Patisserie Holdings , Private & Commercial Finance Group, Telford Homes, United Utilities Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Hunting

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Payments (GER) (07:00)
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
New Homes Sales (US) (13:30)
Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00)
Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)
Personal Income (US) (13:30)
Personal Spending (US) (13:30)
U. of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US) (14:55)

GMS
African Barrick Gold , Draganfly Investments Ltd., Gleeson (M J) Group, Regenersis, ReThink Group, UBM

FINALS
Britvic, Compass Group, Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V), Thomas Cook Group

ANNUAL REPORT
Webis Holdings

IMSS
Wolseley

AGMS
Baillie Gifford Japan Trust, Finsbury Food Group, Firestone Diamonds, Forte Energy NL, International Ferro Metals Group, K3 Business Technology Group, Pure Wafer, Regenersis, Victoria Oil & Gas

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Matomy Media Group Limited (DI)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00)
Index of Services (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
AIREA, JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust