London pre-open: Stocks seen lower; Powell speech eyed

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Tuesday after US stocks ended mostly lower a day earlier. The FTSE 100 was called to open down 42 points at 7,683.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson noted the late selloff on Wall Street, which saw the S&P 500 and Dow give up all their gains and the Nasdaq 100 close well off its intraday highs, "in a move which looks set to translate into a weaker open for markets in Europe this morning".

Traders will be eyeing a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell later in the day at a central bank conference in Stockholm.

In UK corporate news, RS Group said it expected full-year profit to be towards the top end of consensus estimates after third-quarter revenues grew 8% despite a tough economic backdrop.

The distributor of industrial and electronic products said strong trade in EMEA and the US offset an 8% fall in Asia-Pacific sales due to the shortage of computer parts.

Consensus for the year to March 31, 2023 is a revenue range of £2.71bn-3.04bn, adjusted operating profit of £356.8m-384.1m and adjusted pre-tax profit of £350.4m-374.9m.

Elsewhere, online electrical retailer AO World lifted its profit guidance for the year to March 2023 as it said profitability was running ahead of its previous expectations thanks to cost-cutting actions.

The company now expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, and depreciation of between £30m and £40m, having said in November 2022 that it would be at the top end of a range of between £20m and £30m.

"We remain cautiously optimistic and yet mindful of the continuing macroeconomic uncertainty and tough consumer environment, whilst also taking into account both the extent to which these and inflationary pressures can impact our contract assets," AO said.