Retail sales data tomorrow will provide some idea of the mindset of the consumer ahead of Christmas.
November included the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend the British Retail Consortium (BRC) retail sales monitor seems likely to show decent retail sales growth in November, said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
“Significantly, an increasing amount of Black Friday purchases are occurring on the internet, so retailers are benefiting to varying degrees. “
Last month, it was a rush for winter clothes and Halloween products that saw the fastest annual pace for 14 years, according to the figures from Office for National Statistics.
The BRC’s numbers were also strong with the 2.4% rise the best since January.
Retailers are optimistic for Christmas but consumer confidence figures have started to down notes Archer.
Onto company news and sugar specialist Real Good Food PLC (LON:RGD) will publish its interims.
After the shock of the Bake-Off's move away for the BBC, investors will be hoping that the demand for bakery ingredients is not affected.
Real Good hinted in September that it would look to kick start dividend payments at the end of 2017 after a strong start to the year, so investors will be looking for any news about this.
The premium baking arm also showed solid growth in the first couple of months of this financial year and shareholders will hope trading has continued in this vein.
It is also expected to update investors on the progress it is making across the pond as Real Good looks to build on the progress made at the end of its last year when it swung back to a profit.
Indian power utility OPG Ventures PLC (LON:OPG) has already indicated it would start dividend payments in calendar 2016 and tomorrow’s interims should firm up the plans.
Initially, around 15% of net earnings will be paid out with the intention to grow that figure over time it has said previously.
OPG has about 750Mw of coal-fired electricity generating capacity under its belt in India, but has started to look at renewable sources
Analysts at broker Cantor Fitzgerald suggest OPG could pay out up to 33% of earnings longer term.
Tuesday 6 December
Interims: Real Good Food PLC (LON:RGD), OPG Power Ventures PLC (LON:OPG), Iomart Group PLC (IOM)Gateley Hldgs Plc (GTLY), Imagination Technologies Group PLC (LON:IMG), Consort Medical PLC (LON:CSRT); Ashstead Group (LON:AHT); Northgate PLC (LON:NTG);