Proactive Investors - The FTSE 100 is expected to make a muted start as events in the Middle East continue to spark nerves and ahead of earnings from some of the leading names of the business world.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index little changed after closing down 97.39 points at 7,402.14 on Friday.
Overnight, Israel said its forces had hit targets from the Hizbollah militant group in Lebanon, as its conflict with Hamas threatened to spill over into other theatres in the region.
Michael Hewson said: “How much longer this market weakness can continue could well come down to events later this week and which may not be connected to events in the Middle East, with the release of the latest quarterly earnings from 4 of the so-called “Magnificent 7” which have helped to underpin the bulk of the gains in the Nasdaq 100, given that collectively they still account for 40% of the indexes market cap.”
“With Google owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:META) owner Meta Platforms all reporting this week the scope for a further lurch lower is high in the event of any sort of disappointment.”
“Complicating matters further is the fact that even if the numbers a good an escalation in the Middle East could open the trapdoor to further losses.”
Back in London, and ahead of a busy week of earnings, the early focus will be updates from Shanta Gold (LON:SHAN) and South32 (LON:S32).