Proactive Investors - The FTSE 100 is seen opening higher on Friday after US stocks motored ahead shrugging aside news of a slowdown in the US economy.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 20 points.
On Wall Street, Meta (NASDAQ:META) was the standout performer with shares rising 14% after better-than-expected results driven by a surprise rise in advertising revenue. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) initially jumped after its numbers after the market close but shares fell back on an uncertain outlook for its Cloud business.
The Dow closed Thursday up 525 points, 1.6%, at 33,827, the Nasdaq Composite added 288 points, 2.4%, to 12,142, and the S&P 500 improved 79 points, 2%, to 4,135.
In Asia, in Tokyo on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index was up 1.0%. The Bank of Japan concluded its first meeting under new governor Kazuo Ueda, deciding to leave its ultra-easy monetary policy unchanged.
In China, the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong were both up 0.8%.
Back in London, results from high street lender NatWest (LON:NWG), and a trading statement from Pearson (LON:PSON) will be the early focus.