London pre-open: Stocks to edge up after Wall Street gains

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge up at the open on Friday following a solid session on Wall Street. The FTSE 100 was called to open seven points higher at 7,635.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "While European markets underwent a rather subdued and negative finish yesterday, US markets continued their recent exuberant run, with the S&P500 and Nasdaq 100 both closing higher for the sixth day in a row.

"This was a little surprising given that the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank both delivered very hawkish outcomes in the space of 24 hours of each other, as well as painting very cautious outlooks for growth and inflation over the course of the next 12 months."

In corporate news, supermarket giant Tesco said first-quarter sales had surged 8.8% and maintained annual guidance, adding that there were "encouraging" early signs that inflation was starting to ease for struggling customers.

The company said sales in the 13 weeks to April 27 came in at £13.8bn on a like for like basis.

Shoppers are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis which has seen soaring inflation erode wages. Consumers have also started expressing anger at large company profits - calling it "greedflation".

"There are encouraging early signs that inflation is starting to ease across the market and we will keep working tirelessly to ensure customers receive the best possible value at Tesco," said chief executive Ken Murphy.

Tesco earlier this year said it expected flat retail adjusted operating profit in 2023/24 and retail free cash flow in a range of £1.4bn to £1.8bn. It made £2.49bn last year.

Elsewhere, ITV is in talks about the possible acquisition of All3Media, the independent production company behind The Traitors, it confirmed on Friday.

Responding to press speculation, the broadcaster said in a brief statement that it was "actively exploring" a potential deal.

It provided no further detail, other than to note there was no certainty that a transaction would take place, nor what the terms might be.