Nov 1

• UK CBI Conference, Birmingham (to 3 Nov) pm speech: President Carlos Menem of Argentina

Nov 2

• UK CBI Conf - am speeches : Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson
  pm : John Redwood, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany
• UK MO (Prov) Oct
• UK Purch. Managers' Index (Oct)
• US Purch. Managers' Index (Oct)
• BAA

Nov 3

• UKChancellor's Pre-Budget Statement
• UK CBI Conf - am speeches: David Blunkett, Neil Kinnock, Robin Cook
• UK Official Reserves (Oct)
• UK House Prices (Oct) Halifax
• Marks & Spencer

Nov 4

• UK Report on Services (Sep)
• NTC/CIPS

Nov 5

• UK Interest Rate Decision
• B of E 12 noon
• UK Industrial Production (Sep)
• UK Distributive Trades Survey (Oct) CBI 1100
• UK New Car Reg.(Nov) SMMT
• UK GDP Estimate (Aug-Oct)
• NIESR 15.30
• GER Bundesbank meets

Nov 6

• UK Insolvency Statistics (Q3)
• US Employment Report (Oct)
• Unilever (Q3)

  All Government and Bank of England figures are released at 0930.

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  German and Japanese figures expected this week:

• GER Unemployment (Oct) E 4 Nov
• GER Industrial Orders (Sep) E 4 Nov
• JAP Unemployment (Sep) E 2 Nov

The CBI Conference kicks off on Sunday with major figures lined up to speak, including Gordon Brown, John Redwood and Germany's new Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

Mr Brown makes his pre-Budget Statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday (this is the successor to the old Autumn Statement, when he will give a review of the state of the economy).

The Bank of England's interest rate decision is announced at noon on Thursday, with hopes of another cut.
The Monetary Policy Committee may be influenced by two sets of industrial figures out this week: the Purchasing Managers' Index, which in October recorded the sixth consecutive month of manufacturing contraction (although the decline is easing), and Manufacturing Output which - despite a sharp drop last month - has picked up slightly over the last three month period.
Some of the improvement came from increased output of cars, although Mitsubishi has claimed that many of these vehicles are being pre-registered rather than sold, thus distorting the new car sales figures, which showed a rise of 1.6% in the year to September.

German Industrial Orders may indicate the rate at which the German economy is slowing down, while unemployment in Germany fell below 4 million for the first time since 1996 last month, most of the reduction in the East.

In the UK service sector activity is weaker than for the past two years, but it is still growing.

Payrolls in the US, where unemployment is 4.6%, rose very slightly.