London pre-open: Stocks to hit four-week high on tech earnings, US-Ukraine deal
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Thursday 01 May 2025
(Sharecast News) - UK stocks are expected to open at their highest levels in four weeks on Thursday with sentiment lifted by forecast-beating tech earnings and a deal between Ukraine and the US.
The FTSE 100 is tipped to rise around 0.6% from Wednesday's close of 8,494.85, pushing past the 8,500 level for the first time since 2 April - the day Donald Trump unleashed his sweeping tariffs on America's trade partners and sent global financial markets into a frenzy.
Wall Street giants Microsoft and Amazon impressed investors with the first-quarter numbers overnight, with shares in both rising strongly in after-hours trading.
"Both Microsoft and Meta beat earnings expectations, which could lead some to argue that concerns about China's threat to US AI dominance was overdone," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
"The earnings reports [...] have also boosted hopes that big tech can weather the tariff storm. Apple will be another test, however, because it has a larger consumer element and is highly leveraged to China, even if it does report weakness in its earnings, it may not weigh on the entire sector," Brooks said.
In other news, the Trump administration reached a minerals deal with Kyiv that will see the US invest in the reconstruction of Ukraine in exchange for preferential access to natural resources deals.
"This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term," said treasury secretary Scott Bessent in a statement.
Thursday is set to be another busy day for economic data, with consumer credit and mortgage approvals due out in the UK, and Challenger job cuts figures, jobless claims and two key manufacturing PMIs scheduled in the US.
In UK corporate news, Lloyds Bank increased its bad debt provision in the first quarter citing downside risks from the impact of US tariffs. The UK lender lifted its impairment charge to £309m from £57m a year earlier. Net income rose 4% to £4.4bn while pre-tax profit fell 7% to £1.5bn as the bank reaffirmed full-year guidance.
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