This could be most evident in Thursday's manufacturing output data. If these confirm the GDP numbers, they will show that although output rose strongly in December, it fell 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, to its lowest level since the start of 2010, and is 9.9 per cent below its peak in the first quarter of 2008.
Worse still, early indicators might show that January was little better. The British Retail Consortium is expected to say on Tuesday that sales on a like-for-like basis grew only very slightly in the year to January, and purchasing managers the same day could report a second successive monthly fall in services activity generally. Such weakness might be due to January's snow, in which case we can expect a snapback in activity in February. But it's also likely to fuel fears that GDP won't immediately recover from the fourth-quarter's drop.
Thursday's trade figures will highlight one reason for this weakness. They could show that the deficit in good trade hit a record high in the fourth quarter, implying that falling net exports were one reason for the drop in GDP in the fourth quarter. Although this is largely due to lower exports to the eurozone, it is not entirely so. The numbers could also show that exports to non-EU nations have slowed down, after doing well earlier in 2012.
Despite all this, the Bank of England is unlikely to announce any more quantitative easing on Thursday. This is partly because it hopes the Funding for Lending scheme will boost the economy instead, and partly because it does not expect inflation to fall much below its 2 per cent target.
Overseas, we might get a glimmer of hope from the eurozone. German industrial production (Thursday) might show a small rise in December - although not enough to prevent a large quarter-on-quarter fall - and Italian output (Friday) could show a smaller drop than in the last three months. This would be consistent with the eurozone recession at least moderating.
In the US, Friday's trade deficit should narrow a little after a surprisingly large rise in November. However, this would still leave the deficit wider than in the third quarter, implying that net trade depressed US GDP in the quarter. The eurozone's recession has global consequences.
Perhaps more significant, however, will be Thursday's figures which could show that US productivity grew very little in the fourth quarter. This would be consistent with trend productivity growth having slowed significantly in recent years. It's not just the UK that has a productivity problem.
