London pre-open: Stocks to slump amid US inflation fears
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to slump at the open on Tuesday amid US inflation fears.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 90 points lower at 7,033.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Once again it has been concern about inflation that appears to be weighing on broader market sentiment, with commodity prices once again the major culprit, ahead of US CPI numbers that are due out later this week.
"Putting to one side the fact that Friday's jobs miss is likely to keep the Fed on hold for quite a while longer given the lowered expectations for sharply higher jobs growth much before September, when the latest set of unemployment benefits expire, it seems that investors are now fretting about rising prices and sharply higher inflation again."
Hewson said Monday's big slide in the Nasdaq looks set to translate into a negative open for markets in Europe, after Asian markets also slid back as the latest Chinese inflation numbers showed a big jump in April.
The Nasdaq tumbled 2.6% to 13,401.86.
In corporate news, UK supermarket Morrisons reported a rise in first quarter sales and reiterated guidance for higher full-year profits and reduced debt as the economy rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company said total sales for the 14 weeks to May 9 were up 5.3% including fuel sales. Group LFL sales excluding-fuel was up 2.7%, and up 4.7% including-fuel.
Elsewhere, outsourcer Capita announced the appointment of Tim Weller as chief financial officer, with effect from Wednesday.
Well joins the company from security services firm G4S, where he has been CFO since 2016.
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