London pre-open: Stocks seen up ahead of payrolls

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday following heavy losses a day earlier amid recession worries, as investors eyed the latest US non-farm payrolls report. The FTSE 100 was called to open 33 points higher at 7,181.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "It's been almost a week since Powell's comments at Jackson Hole, and it's been one way traffic ever since, although last night's close in the US did see a rebound off the lows of the day with the Dow and S&P500 both managing to eke out a modest gain. This late rebound should translate into a positive European open."

The non-farm payrolls report for August is due at 1330 BST, along with the unemployment rate and average earnings.

Hewson said: "Today's US payrolls report has the potential to add another layer to the US dollar strength narrative, as well as equity market weakness in the event we get another strong number this afternoon.

"The resilience of the US labour market has been a notable standout when it comes to US economic data this year.

"The last three payrolls reports have seen the headline numbers beat expectations. Wage growth has also proved to be resilient even as vacancy rates are still close to record levels.

"The July payrolls report was doubly impressive given that consensus expectations were for the lowest number this year, and what we got was over double forecasts, at 528k.

"Wage growth has also remained solid rising to 5.2%, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%. These are expected to remain unchanged.

"Another positive payroll number today would in all probability rubber stamp the possibility of a 75bps rate hike when the US Federal Reserve next meets later this month."

Expectations are for 298,000 jobs to have been added.

In corporate news, asset manager Ashmore Group said that assets under management and earnings slipped in the twelve months ended 30 June as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and inflationary concerns led to widespread risk aversion.

Assets under management declined by 32% year-on-year to $64.0bn, with the majority of the movement attributable to a negative investment performance of $16.6bn and net outflows of $13.5bn.

Elsewhere, Ryanair posted a 52% jump in August traffic.

The budget airline said passenger numbers grew to 16.9m from 11.1m in August 2021. Meanwhile, the load factor - which gauges how full the planes are - ticked up to 96% from 82%.

On a rolling 12-month basis, traffic surged 236% to 148m and the load factor improved to 89% from 75%.