(Sharecast News) – London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday as investors eye the latest US non-farm payrolls report.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 49 points higher at 6,905.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: “Market volatility is likely to be low for much of the day as the US non-farm payrolls report will be revealed at 1.30pm (UK time). Economists are expecting the headline reading for December to be 71,000, which would be a huge fall from the 245,000 registered in the previous report.
“In November, the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% – the lowest reading since March – but the consensus estimate for December is 6.8%. Average earnings are tipped to hold steady at 4.4%. Given the upheaval in the labour market, the participation rate has been given extra attention. The metric fell from 61.7% in October to 61.5% in November and that could be seen as a sign that there is falling confidence in the jobs market.
“During economic downturns, some people who are out of work get so feed up the weak labour market they stop searching, and that contributes to a falling participation rate.”
On home shores, travel and leisure stocks could take a hit on news that international travellers will need to show a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed the UK.
In corporate news, food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer reported a fall third quarter revenue as it warned the latest UK Covid lockdown would hit sales and the Brexit trade deal “significantly impact” some of its European operations.
Like-for-like revenue in the 13 weeks to December 26 fell 7.6% to £2.5bn with a 4.4% rise on food sales over the festive period was offset by a 24.1% slump in clothing and homewares.
“The free trade agreement with the EU means we will not incur tariffs on our core UK sales. However potential tariffs on part of our range exported to the EU, together with very complex administrative processes, will significantly impact our businesses in Ireland, the Czech Republic and our franchise business in France which we are actively working to mitigate,” M&S said.
Barratt Developments said it planned to restart dividends as the housebuilder reported strong trading in the first half. Forward sales in the six months to the end of December rose 14.3% to 13,588 homes from a year earlier at a value of £3.2bn – up 19.4%.
Barratt said if there is no material change in the market the board expects to resume dividends with its first-half results.
