Proactive Investors - 7:00am: All eyes on the Bank of England after US leaves rates unchanged
The FTSE 100 is expected to climb when trading begins on Thursday ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision at midday which comes after the US Federal Reserve left rates unchanged on Wednesday.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s blue-chip index up by around 39 points after closing up 20.71 points at 7,342.43 on Wednesday.
The BoE is widely anticipated to leave interest rates unchanged at today’s meeting, the second pause in a row.
The UK central bank decided against a hike in its September meeting, maintaining bank rate at 5.25%, which is a more than 15-year high.
"There ought to be enough evidence today for a majority decision to hold rates, with perhaps one or two of the 4 hawks who voted for a hike in September deciding to uphold the status quo, while downgrading their GDP forecasts," said CMC Markets' Michael Hewson.
In the US, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its November meeting.
In a widely expected move, the central bank unanimously agreed to hold the key federal funds rate in a target range between 5.25%-5.50%, a 22-year-high, where it has been since July.
Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said the US central bank remains "strongly committed" and "squarely focused" on getting inflation back to its 2% target, leaving the door ajar for a further interest rate increase.
"We are committed to getting inflation back down to our target over time and we will," he said.
He cautioned against reading too much into the idea that they are on an extended pause, saying no decision on what they will do at the December meeting has been made. Policy would need to remain restrictive until inflation was seen to be on a "sustainable path," to 2%, he commented.
Back in London, and there are a raft of top names reporting today with BT (LON:BT), Entain (LON:ENT), Haleon (LON:HLN), Sainsbury, Shell (LON:RDSa), Trainline and Smith & Nephew in the calendar.