Wednesday preview: BoE minutes, FOMC meeting, Kesa

On Wednesday, the US Federal Open Market Committee announces its interest rate decision and, unless the US central bank is going to start paying US banks to borrow money from it, the Fed has little option but to leave its rates unchanged.

On the same day the Bank of England releases the minutes from the June meeting of its policy-making team, the Monetary Policy Committee. If April's verdict on whether to unleash more quantitative easing was finely balanced then May's is likely to have seen even more lively debate about whether to loosen fiscal policy some more.

April brought yet more bad news in the form of construction output, which showed a 13.3% month-on-month drop and an 8.5% year-on-year drop. The quarter-on-quarter fall in construction output in the first quarter was also revised down to -4.9% from -4.8%. Industrial and manufacturing production figures were grim, and recent trade figures suggest that hopes of an export-led recovery for the UK economy are pie - or pasty - in the sky.

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Barclays Capital predicts that the MPC will have once again split 7-2 in favour of holding quantitative easing at £325bn.

Unemployment figures are also due out at 09:30 with the market expecting the April unemployment rate to be the same as March's 8.2%.

On the corporate front Kesa Electricals is set to release full year figures which should see a sharp drop in sales owing to the company's sale of its Comet chain.

Even stripping out the effects of the Comet sale, the group has been having a tough time of its with revenue in the first four months of the year down by 4.7% year-on-year in euro terms, or 4.6% in local currency. Online sales are a rare bright spot, but the group is pinning its hopes on the roll-out of its Darty concept and its "strategic cross-channel focus".

The market is expecting sales of £3,777m and profit before tax of £43.3m.

INTERIMS

Zambeef Products

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Diploma

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

AI Claims Solutions, Alternative Networks, Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust, Gooch & Housego, RWS Holdings

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Land Securities Group, Personal Assets Trust

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

FOMC Interest Rate (US) (17:15)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Producer Price Index(GER) (07:00)

FINALS

Kesa Electricals

ANNUAL REPORT

Acal, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI)

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

NetDimensions Holding Ltd. (DI), Severn Trent

AGMS

African Eagle Resources, Allied Gold Mining, Blackstar Group SE (DI), Braemar Shipping Services, Iofina, JD Sports Fashion, Landore Resources Ltd., Loudwater Trust Ltd, Nautilus Minerals Inc. (DI), Plaza Centers NV, Press Corp. GDR (Reg S), Renaissance Russia Infrastructure Equities Ltd, UK Commercial Property Trust, Westhouse Holdings

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)

Claimant Count Rate (09:30)

Unemployment Rate (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Argo Group Ltd., Belgravium Technologies, Fairpoint Group, Graphite Enterprise Trust, Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, Motivcom, NTT DoCoMo Inc, Premier Farnell

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

3i Group, 3i Infrastructure, Albany Inv Trust, Amati Vct 2, Aveva Group, Braemar Shipping Services, CML Microsystems, Dairy Crest Group, Electrocomponents, Fuller Smith & Turner, Hansa Trust, Harvey Nash Group, Hasgrove, Invensys, Investment Company, Maven Income & Growth VCT, May Gurney Integrated Services, Metric Property Investments , Mitie Group, NetDimensions Holding Ltd. (DI), NewRiver Retail Ltd. (Reg S), Norcon, Northern 3 VCT, Northern Investors Co, Octopus VCT , Record, Severn Trent, Telford Homes, Tex Holdings, United Utilities Group, Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd (DI), Value and Income Trust, Walker Crips Group

JH