FTSE 100 preview: Steady start despite downbeat China data

The FTSE 100 looks set to start this Tuesday marginally higher, with investors likely to shrug off downbeat data out of China. Investors have a lot to look out for on the corporate front, including BP’s (LON:BP) first-quarter update.

FTSE 100 looking up

IG’s opening calls suggest that the Footsie will starting trading 0.11 percent higher at 7,449 points. Investors are likely to shrug off a downbeat lead from Asia, where shares have retreated this morning as the latest manufacturing data out of China failed to meet expectations. Reuters quoted Frances Cheung, head of macro strategy for Asia at Westpac, as commenting that the weak numbers suggested that ‘stimulus is there to stay’. In the US, shares rose last night, with the main indices starting a busy week on the front foot.

“Everyone has forgotten the term earnings recession,” Hogan of National Securities said, as quoted by CNBC. “It was a bad case of premature extrapolation to think we were going to have an earnings recession.”

The Footsie closed marginally higher yesterday, adding 12.47 points to close 0.17 percent up at 7,440.66, with upbeat economic data from the US helping offset the impact of stronger sterling.

Tuesday’s agenda

Today’s macroeconomic releases include Germany’s GfK consumer confidence data for May, due out at 07:00 BST, to be followed by the country’s unemployment data for April at 08:55 BST. The first-quarter flash gross domestic product for the eurozone along with the area’s unemployment rate for March, will be released at 10:00 BST. In the US, Chicago’s purchasing managers’ index for April will be announced at 14:45 BST, to be followed by the nation’s pending home sales data for March at 15:00 BST.

On the corporate front, BP is expected to post a small drop in Q1 profit this morning. Other FTSE 100 companies reporting today include Whitbread (LON:WTB), St James’s Place (LON:STJ), Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) and Glencore (LON:GLEN).