European Economic News Preview: France Foreign Trade Data Due

(RTTNews) - Foreign trade data from France and industrial production from Italy are due on Friday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 2.45 am ET, France's customs office is slated to publish external trade data for September. The trade deficit is forecast to narrow to EUR 7.0 billion from EUR 7.4 billion in August.

At 4.00 am ET, Italy's ISTAT publishes industrial output data for September. Production is expected to fall 0.4 percent on month, in contrast to the 0.1 percent rise in August.

At 6.00 am ET, retail sales data is due from Italy. Economists forecast sales to grow 0.2 percent on month in September, reversing a 0.5 percent fall in the previous month.