Proactive Investors - The FTSE 100 is expected to make a bright start on Thursday following strong gains in the US.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 22 points.
US stocks strongly advanced on Wednesday as a series of upbeat earnings reports focused minds away from the recent turmoil in the banking sector. Paychex, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) all rose strongly after well received numbers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 323.35 points, or 1.0%, at 32,717.60. The S&P 500 gained 56.54 points, or 1.4%, at 4,027.81 and the Nasdaq Composite firmed 210.16 points, 1.8%, to 11,926.24.
In Asia on Thursday, investor sentiment was more mixed. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 1.0%.
Back in London and the early focus will be a trading statement from AO World PLC and results from Impellam (AIM:IPEL), Moonpig and Renalytix.
Later today there is a US GDP reading and US weekly jobless claims figures to digest.