London pre-open: Stocks seen weaker on Catalonia concerns, BoE and Fed rate decisions eyed
London stocks looked set for a downbeat open on Monday amid concerns about Catalonia and ahead of interest rate decisions from both the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve later this week.
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 25 points lower at 7,480.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “Events in Catalonia are likely to take centre stage early on this week after developments over the weekend. The triggering of article 155 by Madrid in response to the declaration of independence by the Catalonian parliament has not only split Catalonia but it has also made Prime Minister Rajoy’s own position much more precarious, given some unease amongst some members of the Spanish parliament, particularly the Basques.
“This may help explain why in dissolving all of the Catalan institutions and the calling of quick elections, suggests that the Madrid government wants to try and lance this boil quickly in the hope that new elections return an administration that is less pro-independence, and more representative of the anti-secession demonstrations seen over the weekend.”
On the data front, mortgage approvals, consumer credit and M4 money supply are at 0930 GMT. Consumer credit is expected to remain fairly robust at £1.5bn, down from £1.6bn.
In corporate news, HSBC said on Monday that reported pre-tax profit rose to $4.6bn in the three months to the end of September, from $843m in the same period a year ago.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver said: "We maintained good momentum in the third quarter, with higher revenue in our three main global businesses. We also continued to make good progress with the strategic actions we set out in 2015. Our international network continued to deliver strong growth in the third quarter, and our pivot to Asia is driving higher returns and lending growth, particularly in Hong Kong."
EasyJet has swooped to acquire part of the collapsed Air Berlin's operations in Berlin's busiest airport for €40m.
The budget airline has agreed to acquire leases for up to 25 Airbus A320 aeroplanes and offer jobs to each plane's flying crews and taking over other assets including much-coveted runway slots.
Glencore issued its third quarter production figures, reporting own sourced copper production of 946,500 tonnes which was 11% lower than the comparable 2016 period.
The firm said that reflected the Ernest Henry minority sale in the fourth quarter of 2016, combined with smelter maintenance at Mount Isa in the third quarter of 2017, reduced throughput at Mutanda due to power interruption at Mopani, which impacted the supply of sulphuric acid, end-of-mine life production declines at Alumbrera and the timing of lower copper grades at Antapaccay.
Business information and events group Euromoney Institutional Investor announced that it has sold Adhesion Group, and its 74% stake in World Bulk Wine Exhibition, to French exhibitions company Comexposium Holding.
The FTSE 250 company said the transaction, for as-yet-undisclosed consideration, was in line with its strategy, including actively managing its portfolio of assets and seeking to sell certain businesses which do not align with its strategy.