Sorrell's view: Investors await Sir Martin's prediction

All eyes will be on what Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP has to say about the world economy when he reports third quarter results this Friday as the advertising giant is such a bellweather of how companies are faring. Analysts reckon that WPP's revenues will be down by 9.4 per cent on the period, albeit slightly better than the second quarter's fall.

At the half year in August, WPP, which owns some of the world's biggest ad agencies including Ogilvy and Young & Rubicam, reported a profit downturn of 24 per cent to £342m and revenues down 8 per cent.

Investors will want to know whether Sir Martin has changed his mind about the shape of this recession which he has predicted will be L- shaped – at the last recession he went for a bath-shaped one. They are clearly nervous as WPP's shares were one of the biggest fallers on the stock market last week, dropping 7 per cent to 556p.