Proactive Investors - Good morning. The FTSE 100 is expected to make headway on Thursday after US markets rallied on optimism that the US will avoid a government default after policymakers appeared to edge closer towards a deal in Washington.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 22 points.
"US markets...finished their session strongly higher, taking their cues from comments from US President Biden expressing confidence that a deal would ultimately be agreed, confidence that was echoed by House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy" said CMC’s Michael Hewson.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 408.63 points, or 1.2%, to 33,420.77. The S&P 500 gained 48.87 points, 1.2%, at 4,158.77 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 157.51 points, 1.3%, at 12,500.57.
US President Joe Biden said he is "confident" a deal can be reached with Republican leaders to avert a potentially catastrophic US debt default, which could come as early as June 1.
Asian markets followed the US higher. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was up 1.7%, in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 0.9%.
Back in London and the early focus will be updates from BT (LON:BT), Burberry, easyJet (LON:EZJ) and National Grid (LON:NG) on another bumper day of company news.