Proactive Investors - 7.22am: Next raises outlook
Next PLC (LSE:LON:NXT) raised its full-year outlook for the third time since the summer as sales in the third quarter came in 7.6% higher than this time last year, above previous guidance for 5.0% growth.
The high street clothing retailer Next said it now expects full price sales growth to +3.5%, up from 2.5% before.
Full-year profit guidance has been lifted to just over £1 billion, up from £995 million previously.
7.15am: FTSE 100 expected to fall pre-Budget
The FTSE 100 is expected to fall on Wednesday, gripped by nerves ahead of the Labour government's first Budget at lunchtime today.
London's blue-chip index has been called 30 points lower on futures markets, having lost 66 points yesterday to drop back to just under 8,220.
Overnight, US stocks had a mixed session, with the S&P 500 inching 0.2% higher despite over two-thirds of its constituents falling on the day, as big tech stocks drove gains, and saw the Nasdaq rise 0.8% to a record high.
After the close, Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) impressed with a quarterly sales and earnings beat thanks to growth of its cloud computing arm, sending its shares almost 6% higher in post-market trading.
Earnings from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta Platforms are due after today's Wall Street close.
In London, we have results from Next PLC (LSE:NXT), GSK PLC (LSE:LON:GSK, NYSE:GSK), Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:LON:STAN), Aston Martin (LON:AML) and more.