Proactive Investors - 7.16am: FTSE expected to start lower
The FTSE 100 is expected to fall sharply on Wednesday morning, though market worries about Korea seemed to dim overnight, and Wall Street finished higher.
Futures for the London benchmark point to a 36-point decline at the open, after the index gained 46.5 points to close at 8,359.4 yesterday.
US stocks were mixed overnight, with the Nasdaq rising 0.4%, the S&P 500 finishing just above flat and the Dow Jones dropping 0.2%.
Asian markets are also mixed, with India's Sensex, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng all up between 0.1% and 0.2%, but the Shanghai Composite down 0.4%.
Oil prices are creeping higher, with Brent nearing $74 a barrel on news that the US will impose more restrictions on Iranian oil exports and on chatter that OPEC is getting closer to delaying its plans to restore production by another three months.
"The decision announcement is due tomorrow. The short-term risks remain tilted to the upside, but delaying production will only prevent global oil glut from getting worse, but won’t reverse it. As such, once the geopolitical news and OPEC decision are absorbed, the bears will be happy to return to the field," said market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
5am: Today's diary
Legal & General's institutional retirement business update will be in focus on Wednesday... Read more
Macroeconomic news will be led by services PMI data for the UK, EU and other major economies in the morning, with the ADP jobs report in the US later, along with factory orders and mortgages.
Announcements due:
Trading updates: Me Group International (LON:MEGPM) PLC, Legal & General Group PLC
Interims: SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust PLC
Finals: Tritax Eurobox PLC (LON:EBOX), Premier Miton Group PLC, Treatt PLC
US earnings: GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME), Synopsys Inc (NASDAQ:SNPS)
AGMs: Supermarket Income REIT PLC (LON:SUPR), VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity (SO:FTCE11B) Fund Ltd
Economic announcements: PMI Composite (UK), PMI Services (UK), MBA Mortgage Applications (US), PMI Composite (US), Factory Orders (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)