London pre-open: Declines expected ahead of key US data

UK stocks are expected to fall early on after a decent jump, albeit in choppy trading, the previous session as investors await key economic data Stateside.

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open about 35 points lower than yesterday's close of 6,498.78.

A surprise decision by the Swiss National Bank to remove a currency ceiling rocked financial markets worldwide on Thursday, causing stocks to plummet initially, though equities rallied strongly into the close as hopes for further stimulus measures in the Eurozone increased.

As for Friday’s session, the focus will be on US data with consumer-price inflation due out later on, along with industrial production figures and the University of Michigan consumer-confidence index.

Inflation will be closely watched and is expected to show that the annual rate of price rises slowed dramatically to just 0.7% in December from 1.3% the month before on the back of a recent slump in oil. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, is expected to hold steady at 1.7%.

“We expect Fed to ignore the decline in headline inflation as long as the labour market continues to improve and core inflation and inflation expectations do not start to slide substantially,” said analysts at Danske Bank.

Stocks to watch

Oil giant BP face a maximum penalty of $13.7bn under the Clean Water Act, after the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruling on the Deepwater Horizon case has found that 3.19m barrels of oil were discharged in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The ruling put the spill's size below the government's 4.09m estimate and just under the 3.26m estimated by the firm. Meanwhile, the court has also ruled that BP was not grossly negligent in its source control efforts following the incident

JD Sports Fashion said it was “pleased” with its performance over Christmas as the sportswear retailer raised its profit outlook for the full year. “The board is now confident that the headline profit before tax and exceptional items for our continuing operations will exceed the top end of market expectations for the current financial year which currently range up to £90m,” the company said.

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s said it intends to appoint Ernst & Young LLP as the group’s auditor for the financial year ending 12 March 2016. Ernst & Young, whose appointment remains subject to shareholders approval, would replace PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the group’s current auditor.