There is not much happening on the corporate front on Wednesday, so attenton will be focused on the release of the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
The MPC voted 9-0 in favour of maintaining the status quo on rates and asset purchases in November, and the general expectation is that the 9-0 result would have been repeated at December's meeting.
Though there is an argument that yet more financial stimulation may be needed further down the road, it is only two months since the Bank only extended its quantitative easing programme, so it is probable that the MPC would want to wait to see how that move works out before taking any further action.
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However, analysts will closely examine the minutes to see if there are any clues as to how long the committee is prepared to wait to determine whether the current spate of money printing is enough to get the job done.
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
E2V Technologies, London & Stamford Property Ltd., Metric Property Investments , PayPoint
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Atkins (WS), Betfair Group, British Smaller Companies VCT, DS Smith, Greene King, Halfords Group, JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust , London & Associated Properties
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
FINALS
Arden Partners
ANNUAL REPORT
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust
AGMS
Rubicon Diversified Investments
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)
Public Sector Finances (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust, Standard Life Equity Income Trust
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Alternative Networks, Avation, Carr's Milling Industries
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