London pre-open: Stocks set for flat start, US inflation data and Fedspeak ahead

Stocks in London were expected to start the session little changed ahead of the release of key inflation data in the U.S. later on Wednesday.

The situation in the Middle East nonetheless was still very much on investors' minds.

Yet Cameron Brandt, director of research at market-date firm EPFR, told Dow Jones Newswires: "I think that markets and the actors in them are still somewhat unsure about how to deal with geopolitics and how much weight to give it".

Against that backdrop, as of 0755 BST futures tracking the FTSE 100 were off by 18.0 points to 7,654.50.

At 1330 BST the U.S. Department of Labor was scheduled to release producer price figures for the month of September.

Investors would also be keeping close tabs on a slew of scheduled speeches from top Federal Reserve officials.

And at 1900 BST the Federal Reserve would release the minutes of its last rate-setting meeting.

"In the last few days, we’ve heard from Fed vice chair Philip Jefferson, Dallas Fed President Lori Logan, who were followed yesterday by Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, as well as Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari who all acknowledged that monetary policy could be restrictive enough and that rising yields could mean the Fed might have to do less, and not hike again in November," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"While this may be true, this week’s inflation numbers could prompt some repricing of that expectation if they come in hotter than expected, starting with today’s PPI numbers for September, and tomorrow’s CPI report."

Pagegroup anticipates large drop in profits

Recruitment firm Pagegroup said it expects full-year profits to drop by as much as 36% as a result of ongoing challenging conditions across Asia, the UK and US markets in the third quarter. Group operating profit for 2023, excluding one-off items, is expected to come in at between £125m and £130m, compared with the £196.1m made in 2022.

FirstGroup said in an update on Wednesday that it was expecting improved full-year profits in both its rail and bus divisions, citing stronger-than-expected demand and agreed variable fee payments with the Department for Transport for First Rail, and robust passenger volumes plus pension fund changes for First Bus. Corporate actions included managing Greyhound pension liabilities and purchasing a portion of its 2024 bonds. As a result, 2024 group adjusted operating and attributable profits were expected to surpass previous board expectations by £14 to £20m and £7m to £10m, respectively, with an anticipated year-end adjusted net cash position of £20m to £30m.

Gold producer Endeavour Mining has said that it's about 70% of the way through planned drilling at its key Côte d’Ivoire project for 2023, but results so far have been promising. The company, with exploration assets across West Africa, said 123km has been drilled at its Tanda-Iguela projects so far this year with plans for an additional 55km before the year is out, well ahead of the 70km initially planned. An updated mineral resource estimate for its key Assafou deposit will be published later this year, but Endeavour says that drill results obtained so far "continue to demonstrate [Tanda-Iguela's] potential to become Endeavour’s next cornerstone asset".