The FTSE 100 opened 35 points higher at 7,330.98 as traders shrugged off the latest inflation print – data that showed prices hit a new 40-year high of 9.4%.
This was marginally higher than the 9.3% predicted for June, but not sufficiently outside the scope of economists’ expectations to set alarm bells ringing.
Higher petrol and diesel prices were the main drivers of rising costs, though shopping basket staples such as cheese, butter and vegetables also contributed to the increased cost of living.
6.40 am: FTSE 100 tipped to open higher
FTSE 100 was tipped for good early gains as Wall St jumped on the back of reassuring trading statements from several US household names.
Financial spread betting firms had pencilled in a rise of about 40 points for Footsie a couple of hours ahead of the open as Asian markets also rallied strongly.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq had their best days since end of June as Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and Hasbro beat forecasts as did IBM (NYSE:IBM) though it cautioned about the impact of the strong dollar
But FAANG member Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was the standout performer with the shares up 8% after hours.
The numbers were modest but such is the downbeat mood surrounding the streaming services giant that even losing fewer subscribers than expected and a mixed third-quarter outlook were seen as wins
Some 970,000 subscribers departed against Wall St forecasts of 2mln, earnings beat predictions while revenues rose 9% year-on-year to US$8bn.
For this quarter, Netflix guided to revenues of US$7.84bn up 5% from this time a year ago but lower quarter-on-quarter.
Jeffrey Halley at Oanda noted: “The Netflix results were apparently backstopped by Stranger Things 4 being released
“Either way, with the street hungry for good news to feed the buy-the-dip appetite, Wall Street has a huge day, which saw investors piling back into big tech as well, lifting the Nasdaq by over 3.0%.”
In the UK, attention this morning will be on the latest inflation update with consensus estimates for prices to have risen by 9.5% over the past 12 months (read more).
On the corporate front, Royal Mail (LON:RMG) is the main large company updating and comes just a few hours after 115,000 of its staff voted for industrial action in what might turn out to be the largest walkout yet in a summer of discontent.
As with Netflix, expectations for the postal service are not set high (read more).