London pre-open: Stocks to fall as investors eye Trump-Xi meeting

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Thursday following a downbeat close on Wall Street, as investors eyed a meeting between US President Trump and China's Xi Jinping.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 30 points lower.

On Wednesday evening, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US and China had agreed to extend their trade truce by two months, as Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for a summit with Donald Trump. The truce had been due to expire on 10 November.

As far as the meeting is concerned, Danske Bank said a key goal for the US is to avoid Chinese restrictions on rare earth minerals, while China wants the US to refrain from new tech sanctions.

"Xi will likely reiterate the high priority that Beijing places on Taiwan, which remains the biggest risk in the relationship," Danske said. "We expect few concrete results, but regular meetings help keep the relationship stable, even as the rivalry continues beneath the surface."

On home shores, investors will be mulling a call from the British Retail Consortium for the Autumn Budget to "bolster" consumer confidence in the UK after a survey found that sentiment deteriorated in September, reversing several months of improvement.

The BRC-Opinium Consumer Sentiment Monitor showed expectations for the state of the economy over the next three months fell to -34 from -28 in August, snapping four consecutive months of improvement.

Expectations for personal finances also weakened sharply, to -15 from -9, while the measure for expected retail spending dropped to +5 from +8.

Overall spending expectations were unchanged at +15, however, while expectations for personal saving edged down to -7 from -5.

Among individual retail categories, consumers remained most willing to increase spending on food and groceries, with the net balance at +28 in September, although that was down from +30 in August. Expectations for fashion and clothing spending weakened to -13 from -11, while large electronics slipped to -12 from -11.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: "Consumer confidence in the economy stumbled after four months of improvement, with a similar trend for sentiment around personal finances." She said the deterioration was "much sharper among women" and came as households prepared for higher winter energy costs.

"With the Budget looming large, consumers want to see Government prioritise bringing down the cost of living," Dickinson added, calling on the Chancellor to freeze the business rates multiplier and avoid further increases in retailers' costs.

In corporate news, AO World backed its full-year expectations as the online electricals retailer said it continued to perform strongly between 1 April and 30 September, with year-on-year revenue expected to be up 5.5% and pre-tax profit set to be more than 20% higher at around £21.5m.

"This reflects the underlying strength of the business, with operational improvements in our Mobile and musicMagpie businesses," it said. "Whilst this performance represents a strong first half of the year, our full year profit expectations remain unchanged, reflecting both planned strategic investments, including our ERP programme, and a more challenging comparative environment in the second half."

Safety equipment and life-saving tech specialist Halma boosted its full-year targets following a robust first half.

Updating on trading, the blue chip said it had made "strong progress" and broad-based growth despite economic, geopolitical and market uncertainty. As a result, it reiterated guidance for low double-digit percentage organic revenue growth on a constant currency basis, and boosted margin targets.

It now expects the adjusted earnings before interest and tax margin to be around 23.5% to 24%, up for previous full-year guidance for 22.7%.