Proactive Investors - Good morning. The FTSE 100 is expected to make a bright start to the week despite ongoing nervousness about the debt ceiling discussions in the US.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 20 points.
Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said: “Sentiment hasn’t been helped by the political theatre around the US debt ceiling which has dominated the discourse in the media, and where discussions have been pushed into this week.”
“While the risks around this are well-rehearsed it could be argued that the risks appear somewhat overstated given how regularly we’ve seen this scenario play out over the last few years on a regular “rinse and repeat” basis before a late compromise is sealed.”
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended mostly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average flat, the S&P 500 down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.4%.
In Asia on Monday, markets made ground. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo advanced 0.7%, in China, the Shanghai Composite was slightly higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 1.2%.
Back in London and the early focus will be updates from Diploma (LON:DPLM), Cerillion and Currys.