Proactive Investors - FTSE 100 expected to start the week on the back foot as investors look ahead to interest rate calls in the US, UK and Europe later this week alongside a bumper batch of earnings updates.
Spread betting companies are calling the lead index down by around 40 points.
Michael Hewson chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK commented: “The strong start to 2023 appears to have given way to a little bit of caution for markets in Europe as we look to this week’s trifecta of central bank meetings, and what sort of outlook is painted by the Federal Reserve, ECB and Bank of England, and more importantly how many more rate hikes can we expect to see after next week.”
“This caution looks set to translate into a lower open for markets in Europe this morning ahead of Q4 German GDP numbers which are expected to show the economy in Germany ground to a halt.”
In the US on Friday the major US indexes all finished off a busy week of earnings in positive territory.
At the close, the Dow had gained 0.1% to close at 33,978, the S&P 500 increased 0.3% at 4,071 and the Nasdaq was up 1% on the day at 11,622 to cap off a great week for the tech-laden index.
Elsewhere, housebuilders will be in focus on reports the government is close to agreeing a multi-billion pound deal with the sector to help resolve the cladding crisis exposed by the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster.
On the corporate front a trading update from Computacenter PLC (LON:CCC) is due.