London pre-open: Stocks seen lower; US inflation eyed
London stocks were set to fall at the open on Tuesday following a downbeat session in the US, amid worries about the latest Covid lockdown in Shanghai and as investors eye the latest US inflation data.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 58 points lower at 7,560.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Today’s European open looks set to be negative one as markets in Asia have continued the negative tone, following on from yesterday’s falls in the US, as concerns about China’s economy grow with the Covid lockdowns in Shanghai showing little sign of coming to an end.
"With the latest UK March inflation numbers due tomorrow, the cost-of-living squeeze is no better illustrated than in the gap between wage growth which saw an increase of 4.8%, in January, including bonuses, and 3.8% excluding them.
"The main focus today will be today’s US CPI number for March, which look set to push well above 8% later today. Having seen the Federal Reserve pull the trigger on its first interest rate rise since 2018 last month, much has been made of the timeline of how big the next few rate increases are likely to be with the odds increasing of more than one 50bps rate rise occurring in the coming months."
In corporate news, PageGroup announced a record quarter for the start of 2022 and said its chief executive, Steve Ingham, was leaving after 16 years at the top of the recruitment company.
The FTSE 250 group said gross profit rose 42.6% to £258.2m in the three months to the end of March at constant currency from a year earlier. March was the first month it recorded gross profit of more than £100m. PageGroup also said its nomination committee had decided to look for a replacement for Ingham and that he had agreed.
Low-cost airline easyJet reported improved trading in the second quarter after the removal of Covid travel restrictions, adding that summer bookings were tracking ahead of pre-pandemic 2019.
Passenger numbers soared to 11.5m for the three months to March 31, compared with 1.1m a year earlier.
Industrial and electronics products distributor Electrocomponents said that revenues had grown 26% on a like-for-like basis in the twelve months ended 31 March.
Electrocomponents saw revenues grow 36% year-on-year in the Americas, while Asia-Pacific revenues were up 27% on the prior year and revenues across Europe, the Middle East and Africa were up 22% on 2021 levels.