London pre-open: Stocks to slump after Wall St losses; retail sales, borrowing in focus

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to slump at the open on Friday following heavy losses on Wall Street, as investors mulled the latest UK retail sales and borrowing data.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 85 points lower.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "Yesterday was something. We were happily sitting and watching Nvidia save the market after announcing another round of impressive results the night before. And all of a sudden - shortly after the US open - the mood started souring, and things went downhill from there. The Nasdaq, which jump-started 2% higher at the open, finished the day nearly 2.5% lower. That was really something.

"Most of the news will say that AI spending and credit worries resurfaced - which is true. Oracle - the latest VIP member of OpenAI's mega-deal circle - has now become the bellwether of AI credit risk, partly because it's spending billions financed by debt, and partly because it has weaker credit grades compared with Microsoft or Google.

"And Oracle saw its 5-year CDS spike past 110 bps - the highest in three years. CDS stands for credit default swaps, an instrument investors buy to hedge against the risk of default by a company or government. The higher the perceived risk of default, the higher the demand from investors, and the higher the price. I don't want to bring this back, but Credit Suisse's fall began in the CDS market."

On home shores, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales unexpectedly fell in October, the first decline since May.

Sales slid 1.1%, reversing an upwardly-revised 0.7% uplift in September. Analysts had been looking for flat sales.

The decline was attributed to consumers holding back on spending ahead of November's Black Friday deals.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: "Supermarkets, clothing stores and online retailers all saw slower sales, with feedback from some retailers that consumers were waiting for November's Black Friday deals."

Separate figures from the ONS showed the government borrowed more than expected in October.

Borrowing came in at �17.4bn, down from �19.2bn in October 20224 but above expectations of �15bn. It was also slightly higher than the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast of �14.4bn.

Grant Fitzner said: "Borrowing this October was down on the same month last year, although it was still the third-highest October figure on record in cash terms.

"While spending on public services and benefits were both up on October last year, this was more than offset by increased receipts from taxes and National Insurance contributions."

In corporate news, Babcock International delivered a big jump in profits over the first half ended 30 September, driven by double-digit organic growth in its nuclear division and an improvement in group margins.

The company, which provides engineering support to defence markets along with products like naval ship and weapons handling systems, said it remains on track to achieve its expectations for the full year.

GSK said it has filed a lawsuit against AnaptysBio in the US over licensing rights for its Jemperli cancer treatment.

The suit, via GSK's Tesaro subsidiary, alleges a breach of the current agreement, with the UK pharma firm demanding a perpetual license to the drug and halving royalties and milestone payments to AnaptysBio.

Property development and investment firm Hammerson said it has acquired the remaining 50% stake in The Oracle, as it reported strong year-to-date trading and lifted its EPRA earnings guidance for FY25.

Hammerson completed the �104.5m purchase of the remaining 50% stake in The Oracle, located in Reading, from joint venture partner ADIA, with the deal reflecting a stabilised yield of 8.9% and expected to be around 5% accretive to FY26 EPRA earnings.