The week ahead

We will see UK December industrial production figures on Tuesday and we expect to see a slowdown on the same period last year. This is followed on Wednesday by the Bank of England minutes on inflation, giving us an insight to the future path of UK interest rates although we believe the Bank of England is just as willing to see through the current 0.5% inflation level as it was when it was over 5% in 2011.  Wednesday is a big day for Europe and the eurozone. A special Eurogroup meeting will convene to discuss the Greek stand-off and European leaders will meet with Russian and Ukrainian leaders in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, extending the peace talks held at the weekend.  Eurozone Q4 GDP figures come out on Friday.  The market is expecting no change to the annual rate of +0.8% although this could disappoint if signs of French growth fail to offset a slowing Germany.