London pre-open: Stocks to fall as Trump threatens to expand strikes on Iran

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Wednesday as Donald Trump threatened to expand US strikes on Iran.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 35 points lower. At 0730 BST, Brent crude was up 0.8% at $85.38 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 0.5% higher at $79.70.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump threatened to expand military strikes and continue to hit Iran "very hard" until it returns to the negotiating table.

"We're going to hit them very hard tonight," he said in an interview with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst. "We're going to hit them hard tomorrow night. We're gonna hit them really hard the night after."

He added: "Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants.

"Next week comes the bridges. We're gonna knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."

The US President's comments came after he abandoned plans to impose a 20% charge on cargo shipments through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said: "Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States. Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future."

In corporate news, retailer B&M reported a 2% rise in first-quarter revenue as a strong performance in France offset a 2.3% decline in UK like-for-like sales.

The lower UK sales were attributed to a slower start to garden and outdoor sales compared with last year, when unusually early warm and dry weather drove 10.9% LFL sales growth, B&M said in a trading statement.

Barratt Redrow said it has launched a new share buyback programme as part of a new �400m capital return in FY27, following a "solid performance" over the financial year to 28 June, with profits in line with market expectations.

Total home completions for the year came in at the upper end of guidance at 17,667 (17,200 to 17,800), with further growth targeted for the current financial year (17,700 to 18,200).

Galliford Try said full-year pre-tax profit was set to be at the top end of analysts' forecasts as momentum from the first half of the year continued through the second half.

In an update on trading for the year to 30 June, the construction company said it expects to report a sixth consecutive year of revenue, profit and cash growth.

Analysts are expecting full-year pre-tax profit of �51.4m to �53.4m.