London pre-open: Stocks to nudge up as investors eye US CPI
London stocks were set to edge up just a touch on Monday following a downbeat session in Asia, as investors eye the release of the latest US inflation data this week.
The FTSE 100 was called to open six points higher at 7,888.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "As we look ahead to another week, the main focus is going to be on tomorrow’s US January CPI report, along with retail sales later in the week. Better than expected numbers are unlikely to be positive in the context of being near a peak for US rates.
"It’s also a big week for UK economic data after last week’s Q4 GDP numbers which showed the economy stalled. While there were some pockets of strength there is little doubt that the UK economy remains fragile and will continue to remain so as we look towards Wednesday’s CPI and tomorrow’s wages data.
"Headline inflation is still well above 10% and expected to remain so even after this week’s CPI reading, which means consumers are likely to remain cash-strapped for some time to come, a trend that is likely to be reinforced by January retail sales numbers on Friday."
There was no FTSE 350 corporate news of note out.