London pre-open: Stocks seen lower on weak US lead

The FTSE 100 was seen starting 57 points lower than Thursday’s close at 6,265.

“US markets started to roll over after Europe had closed, dragged down by the tech sector, and Apple and IBM in particular, prompting the Dow to post its biggest one day fall in nearly two months,” said CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson.

“As a result we can expect to see European markets open lower this morning as we come to the end of what has been a positive month, but a negative week, with a rising yen also weighing on Asia markets.”

On the data front, UK money and credit figures are at 0930 BST, In the US, personal income and spending is at 1330 BST, the Chicago PMI is at 1445 BST and University of Michigan consumer sentiment is at 1500 BST.

Airline group IAG said first quarter operating profits were €155m before exceptional items compared with €25m in 2015. Pre-tax profits were up to €124m from a loss of €37m.

Results were boosted by a €181m contribution from Irish carrier Aer Lingus which was acquired in August last year.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said January and February revenues were in line with Q4 2015 trends. March revenue was affected by the timing of Easter and the Brussels terrorist attacks with the latter continuing into the second quarter, he added.

The group also expects to reduce its underlying ex-fuel unit costs for the full year by around 1% and expects to generate an absolute operating profit increase similar to 2015.

Education publisher Pearson was trading in line with expectations in the first quarter, it reported on Friday, with adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share before the costs of restructuring still expected to be £580-£620m and 50p-55p respectively.

The FTSE 100 firm’s sales, which are usually significantly weighted towards the second half of the year, were down 4% in underlying terms in the first three months of 2016. Revenues declined 9% at constant exchange rates, which the board said reflected underlying revenue declines and a change in the revenue model at Connections Education.

“"Pearson has had a solid start to the year, in line with our expectations. We are making good progress on our simplification plan and in our work to have a bigger impact on student learning, which will in turn support our future growth,” said chief executive John Fallon.