European Economic News Preview: UK Retail Sales, PSNB Data Due

(RTTNews) - Retail sales and public sector finance from the UK and business and consumer confidence from Italy are due on Friday.

At 2.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics is slated to issue UK retail sales and public sector finance data. Sales are forecast to grow 0.5 percent on month in November, in contrast to the 0.7 percent fall in October. The budget deficit is seen narrowing to GBP 15.5 billion from GBP 17.35 billion in the previous month.

In the meantime, producer prices data from Germany is due. Economists forecast producer prices to fall 0.3 percent on year in November, following a 1.1 percent decrease in October.

At 2.45 am ET, France's statistical office INSEE releases producer prices for November.

At 4.00 am ET, business and consumer sentiment survey results are due from Italy. Economists forecast the business sentiment index to fall to 86.0 in December from 86.5 in the prior month. The consumer confidence index is seen at 97.0, up from 96.6 in November.

At 5.30 am ET, Russia's central bank announces its monetary policy decision. The bank is expected to hike its benchmark rate by 200 basis points to 23.0 percent.

At 6.00 am ET, the Confederation of British Industry publishes Distributive Trade survey data. The retail sales balance is forecast to rise to -10 percent in December from -18 percent in November.