London pre-open: Stocks seen lower after Asian losses

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Monday following a downbeat session in Asia. The FTSE 100 was called to open down around 17 points.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "The US will release its latest inflation updates tomorrow and Wednesday. Tomorrow, the producer price index will give an idea on the evolution of prices paid by producers, and is expected to show a slowdown from 3.4% to 3.2% in December.

"However, on Wednesday, the CPI data is expected to print an uptick in US headline inflation from 2.7% to 2.9%. Core inflation is also seen super-sticky above the 3% mark. A sufficiently strong set of inflation data could throw the expectation of a June cut under the bus, as well. If that's the case, stock investors could only rely on earnings to keep their heads above water.

"On that front, the US big banks will open the dance this week, with JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman and Citigroup expected to announce their earnings on Wednesday, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley on Thursday. TSM will also announce its Q4 earnings on Thursday and the expectations remain high.

"Nvidia's partner in crime announced that its Q4 sales rose 39% to around $26.3bn and topped estimates, giving a clear indication that the AI spending will extend into the new year. TSM shares eked out a 0.60% gain on Friday despite a broad market turmoil. Nvidia shares however couldn't enjoy the good news and tanked 3% on Friday."

In UK corporate news, GSK said it was buying US-based biopharmaceutical company IDRx for up to $1.15bn.

IDRx specialises in developing treatments for gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST). GSK will pay $1bn upfront with the potential for a further milestone payment of $150m.

Entain reaffirmed its guidance for the financial year just ended, anticipating group EBITDA at the top of the £1.04bn to £1.09bn range, as it benefitted from favourable sports results in the fourth quarter.

The FTSE 100 gambling giant said BetMGM was set to meet its guidance for an EBITDA loss of about $250m despite customer-friendly sports outcomes in October and December.

Fintech group Plus500 beat market forecasts with its results for 2024, driven by a solid end to the year with customer numbers surging 45% over the final quarter.

The online CFD trading platform said in a pre-close update that full-year revenues would be $768m, generating EBITDA of $342m, well ahead of the company-compiled consensus estimate of $725m and $338m noted in late-October.

The company welcomed 36,000 new customers in the fourth quarter alone, up 45% on the third quarter.