London open: Stocks edge lower ahead of Powell speech
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 22 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Friday after closing at a fresh record a day earlier for the third session in a row, as investors eyed an upcoming speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole.
At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 9,288.80.
Michael Brown senior research strategist at Pepperstone, said: "Those waiting for clarity, though, are likely to end up disappointed today, with Fed Chair Powell set to keep his options as open as possible in remarks at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
"With a month still to run until the September FOMC, during which time we'll receive both the August jobs and CPI/PPI reports, as well as with uncertainty remaining elevated, and inflation risks biased to the upside, there is little-to-no benefit in Powell pre-committing to any action later on today.
"As such, far from the explicit 'the time has come for policy to adjust' message that we got last year, I'd expect a much more nuanced stance this time around, as Powell again stresses that the current policy stance is 'well-positioned', and that risks to the dual mandate are still 'two-sided'. Any reference to rate moves, if made, will stress that those moves depend on the evolution of incoming data, especially as most FOMC members still see risks to inflation as greater than risks to employment.
"Consequently, I'd imagine that we end the day with odds on a September cut much closer to 50/50 than where we stand now (around a 75% probability), while the curve should probably also see the possibility of 2x 25bp cuts by year-end as a coin-flip by the end of the day too."
On home shores, a survey showed that improved confidence about personal finances pushed consumer sentiment higher in August, though concerns about rising inflation and unemployment continued to dampen the overall mood.
The GfK consumer confidence index rose by two points to -17 this month, its highest level this year, with four of the five components of the gauge improving from July.
Notably, sentiment gauges around consumers' personal financial situation over the past 12 months and expectations for the coming year both rose by three points to -4 and +5, respectively.
GfK said the brighter outlook was most likely due to the Bank of England cutting interest rates to a two-year low earlier this month.
However, Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, said there were still "many clouds on the horizon in the form of inflation - the highest since January 2024 - and rising unemployment. There's no shortage of speculation, too, about what the autumn Budget will bring in terms of tax rises."
Bellamy added: "While August's Overall Index Score of -17 is the best this year, consumer confidence continues to move in a very narrow band, and there's no sense that it is about to break out into fresher, more optimistic territory. The UK's consumers are still in wait-and-see mode, and any surprises could result in sudden and sharp changes in sentiment."
On the corporate front, Blackstone emerged as the winner in the race to buy Warehouse Reit, after rival bidder Tritax Big Box Reit said it would not increase its offer for the commercial landlord.
Warehouse last month changed its endorsement after Blackstone confirmed it would allow shareholders to receive a dividend from Warehouse as part of its £489m bid.
Tritax had offered a cash and stock deal worth around £485.2m, but on Friday said it did not believe that increasing the financial terms would be in the interests of its shareholders.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,288.80 -0.22%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,818.64 0.00%
techMARK (TASX) 5,407.96 -0.22%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,410.50p 3.71%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 218.00p 1.77%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 84.04p 0.41%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,766.00p 0.37%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 387.00p 0.31%
BP (BP.) 420.70p 0.29%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,247.00p 0.28%
Barclays (BARC) 374.75p 0.21%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,214.00p 0.19%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,062.00p 0.19%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,087.50p -1.36%
Rightmove (RMV) 765.40p -1.34%
Admiral Group (ADM) 3,640.00p -1.03%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,283.50p -0.89%
Relx plc (REL) 3,569.00p -0.86%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,356.00p -0.84%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,619.00p -0.80%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,590.00p -0.77%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 817.20p -0.75%
Next (NXT) 12,115.00p -0.70%
FTSE 250 - Risers
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,530.00p 4.28%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 212.50p 2.66%
WH Smith (SMWH) 655.50p 2.42%
NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,448.00p 2.40%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 192.00p 1.91%
Me Group International (MEGP) 208.00p 1.46%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 402.80p 1.46%
Hays (HAS) 63.30p 1.36%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 554.00p 1.28%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 685.00p 1.18%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Trainline (TRN) 261.00p -2.25%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 484.00p -1.63%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 236.50p -1.46%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 497.00p -1.19%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,155.00p -1.10%
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 392.50p -1.01%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 209.00p -0.95%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 735.00p -0.94%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,526.00p -0.94%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 555.00p -0.89%
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN