Elderly father duped into £25k debt by scam company Marks Art... TONY HETHERINGTON finds the culprit in Cyprus
The 21 top investment funds that insiders recommend to grow your money: One would have turned £1,000 into £1,520
Baroness Bowles: Nationwide using 'sneaky' tactics to avoid putting £2.9bn Virgin Money takeover to member vote
Secrets of the King Charles bank notes: We get a first glimpse... and meet the team who spent ten years perfecting new design
How much longer can insurance firms persist with a tax on the poor? JEFF PRESTRIDGE says those who pay monthly are being hit hard
Trick that can DOUBLE your child's savings... without costing a penny more: Maxing out this account could provide enough to buy a home outright at 27
As probate delays persist, should you get whole-of-life insurance to spare your family an inheritance tax nightmare?
Savvy savers take revenge on banks: £5bn drained from non-interest paying current accounts in bid for better returns
Water firms are drowning in a sea of debt: How borrowing at companies like Thames Water could be bigger than Ofwat figures suggest
Clarksons braced for EIGHTH pay revolt: Shipping shame as chief executive Andi Case rakes in £12m - and his firm is not even in FTSE 100
Taylor Swift helps save the day at Disney: Firm set to report jump in profits weeks after boss Bob Iger won boardroom battle with Nelson Peltz
MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Spectra Systems is last line of defence in war on fake stamps and banknotes
Older workers will sustain growth, says HAMISH MCRAE: Japanese-style tax breaks and better inter-generational relations could make them stay
CITY WHISPERS: Mystery lingers over whether Darktrace's big shareholders are prepared to back £4.2bn takeover
Are MPs paid silly money? I don't think so: Tory grandee Norman Fowler on working for free as Conservative chairman and safaris with Ken Clarke
The humble Isa is back! Record savers opened accounts this April as one building society reveals 200% jump
Investors fall out of love with finfluencers as more look to traditional financial advice for portfolio help
Could Bank of England leapfrog Federal Reserve and cut interest rates first?
Bank of England must go it alone and cut interest rates, says ALEX BRUMMER: It's time to give businesses a boost
When will interest rates fall? Forecasts on when base rate will be cut - and what borrowers and savers should do
Should you pay as much as possible into your pension? SIMON LAMBERT on the risk to early retirement dreams if the goalposts are moved
We're financial experts - this is how you can use your Isa and pension to grow your wealth in the new tax year
Most parents think their children will be worse off than they are: Here's how to cut inheritance tax if you help them
What Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves is not telling us about tax policy should alarm voters, says ALEX BRUMMER

FTSE 100 preview: Shares up; US GDP

By Reuters
Updated: 03:05 EDT, 26 May 2011

View
comments

The FTSE 100 is seen advancing modestly at the open on Thursday in tandem with gains overnight on Wall Street and in Asia, ahead of US GDP figures which could drive markets.

Dealers monitor their screens on the trading floor of IG Index in London

Watching brief: Traders will digest a number of results today.

Investors have a number of corporate earnings to digest on Thursday, with highlights including full-year numbers from luxury goods group Burberry , hedge fund manager Man Group and utility United Utilities Group .

The UK blue chip index looks set to add 10 to 14 points, or 0.2%, according to financial bookmakers, after climbing 11.73 points, or 0.2%,to 5,870.14 on Wednesday. Reinforcing the bleak outlook for domestic household spending, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry showed that companies in Britain's consumer service sector expect levels of business and profitability to fall more sharply in the next three months.

US stocks firmed on Wednesday as recent underperformers led a thinly traded rally that wasn't seen as strong enough to overcome worries about waning global demand.

Investors were waiting for US preliminary first-quarter GDP, scheduled for release. Expectations are that the economy grew at a still sluggish 2.1% annual rate in the first quarter, according to a Reuters survey, rather than the 1.8% pace estimated last month. US weekly jobless claims are also due. Asian stocks rose on Thursday, boosted by the resources and consumer sectors with recovering commodity prices and a rebound in the euro bringing investors back into the markets in search of bargains.

Virgin Money plans a July bid for Lloyds banks branches, according to reports today.

There will be results today from Burberry Group, Man Group, United Utilities, Daily Mail & General Trust, Helical Bar, London & Stamford Property, Qinetiq and Shanks Group.

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.