Friday's dose of bad news in the UK will from energy watchdog Ofgem, which will confirm the size of the rise in maximum household energy bills coming in October.
The annual price cap is predicted to top £3,500, up from the £1,971 cap that was brought in at the last seasonal review in April and £1,277 in October last year.
Some analysts predict energy bills could rise even more at the following revision in January when the regulator switches from seasonal to quarterly reviews.
In company news, the London diary looks pretty bare, though there are some big companies announcing results in China and the US, which could have effects on the FTSE.
Meituan, the Chinese online food delivery giant, is the sixth largest holding of FTSE 100-listed Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) (Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT)), at 3.2%.
Earnings from the company come just days after its shares fell 10% on reports that even larger tech titan Tencent (also an SMT holding) was offloading most or all of its US$24bn stake.
As the US earnings rumbles on, it’s the turn of Dell Inc, which reported record revenue and profits for the first quarter of 2022 as it continued to cash in on rising demand for technology to support hybrid working.
The shares are up over 250% since the start of the pandemic.
US inflation
With the implications for US Federal Reserve rate hikes, inflation will also be a big focus on Friday, in the form of the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) deflators that accompany personal income and spending figures.
Personal income is expected to be up 0.6% on the month and personal spending by 0.5%, about average over recent months.
The deflators are the Federal Reserve’s favourite measures of inflation, as used when officials make their summary of economic projections every quarter.
The month-on-month rate of increase is expected to fall sharply, to 0.1% on the month from 1.0% for the headline figure, while the core deflator falls to 0.3% month-on-month from 0.6% the month before.
Significant announcements on Friday
Economic announcements: Personal Consumption Expenditure (US), Personal Income (US), Personal Spending (US), U. of Michigan Confidence (US), Trade Balance (US)
US and China earnings: Dell, Marvell, Meituan