June 5(Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening higher on Friday, with futures FFIc1 up 0.7%.
* CONSUMERS: British consumer confidence in late May fell to its lowest in over a decade as COVID-19 hit the economy, a survey showed.
* RETAIL: UK retail sales dived 18% in May as the coronavirus lockdown measures kept shopping streets empty, a survey showed.
* LABOUR: UK labour market's sharp slide continued into May, a survey showed.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L and Murphy Oil Corp (NYSE:MUR) MUR.N began evacuating non-essential workers from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Thursday due to a storm.
* ASTRAZENECA: AstraZeneca AZN.L has doubled manufacturing capacity for its potential coronavirus vaccine to 2 billion doses in two deals involving Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) billionaire Bill Gates that guarantee early supply to lower income countries.
* IAG: The boss of British Airways said its parent company IAG ICAG.L was burning through 178 million pounds a week and could not guarantee its survival, prompting him to urge unions to engage over 12,000 job cuts.
* STOBART: Stobart STOB.L said on Thursday it would exit its rail and civil engineering business this fiscal year under a plan to offset a hit from the coronavirus crisis.
* GOLD: Gold eased ahead of a highly awaited U.S. jobs report as markets pinned hopes on an economic recovery.
* OIL: Oil prices nudged higher as traders await cues from a meeting that could take place as soon as this weekend where major oil producers will discuss whether to extend record production cuts.
* UK shares hit their highest in nearly three-months on Thursday on bets of a rebound in post-coronavirus economic activity.
UK CORPORATE DIARY:
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
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