HMV is dreaming of a strong Christmas

DVD and album-retailer HMV is one of the few big names reporting next week as the City winds down for Christmas.

However, the festive season is the key time for retailers and HMV will be hoping for a strong performance, given that its like-for-like sales are forecast to decline across its main businesses in Thursday's interim results. Also next week, the Monetary Policy Committee is expected to keep interest rates at the historically low 0.5 per cent mark.