London pre-open: Stocks to fall as investors mull jobs data

The FTSE 100 was called to open 50 points lower at 7,096.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that job vacancies hit a 20-year high between July and September, of 1.1 million. The number of vacancies rose by 318,000 from the pre-pandemic January to March 2020 levels, with accommodation and food services seeing a near 50,000 jump.

Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The jobs market has continued to recover from the effects of the coronavirus, with the number of employees on payroll in September now well exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

"The latest earnings continue to show growth on the year, even after taking inflation into account.

"However, the figures are still being affected by special factors that make it hard to read underlying trends."

In corporate news, low-cost airline easyJet turned cash positive in the final quarter of its fiscal year driven by an improvement in intra-European and UK domestic travel as Covid lockdown measures eased.

The carrier said it generated £40m in cash in the three months to September 30. It expects a headline pre-tax loss of £1.14bn - £1.17bn compared to consensus of £1.175bn.

During the fourth quarter easyJet flew 58% of full-year 2019 capacity, a “significant” ramp up from the 17% of 2019 volumes in the previous three months.

Domestic traffic in UK and intra-European flying was 77% of 20119 levels, whereas UK International travel was just 32% of levels due to “onerous and expensive” government restrictions.