9th Jul 2025 06:54
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Wednesday, despite another tariff threat from US President Donald Trump, with copper and pharmaceuticals among the sectors in the cross-hairs.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 14.1 points higher, 0.2%, at 8,868.28 on Wednesday. The index of London large-caps closed up 47.65 points, 0.5%, at 8,854.18 on Tuesday.
The CAC 40 in Paris is called up 0.4%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt up 0.1%.
"European stocks trade higher on optimism that a trade deal will be announced very soon, and that tariffs applied to European exports to the US will be around 10%," Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented.
"Though optimism remains largely concentrated in Europe. Elsewhere, the news is far less reassuring."
President Trump said Tuesday that he would not extend an August 1 deadline for higher US tariffs to take effect on dozens of economies, while announcing plans for a 50% duty on copper imports.
Trump also said Washington would soon make an announcement on pharmaceuticals, but officials would allow manufacturers time to relocate their operations into the country.
"We're going to give people about a year, a year and a half to come in, and after that, they're going to be tariffed," he said. "They're going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%."
Apart from copper and pharmaceuticals, Trump has ordered probes into imports of lumber, semiconductors and critical minerals that could lead to further levies.
The pound rose to USD1.3591 early Wednesday, from USD1.3574 at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro perked up to USD1.1716 from USD1.1709 while against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY146.96 from JPY146.82.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.42%, unmoved from where it stood at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.94%, easing from 4.96%.
In New York on Tuesday, stocks ended largely lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, the S&P 500 lost 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite ended fractionally higher.
In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was 0.3% higher. The Shanghai Composite was also up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 0.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 0.6%.
Consumer prices in China rose slightly in June, official data showed on Wednesday, snapping a four-month decline.
The consumer price index edged up 0.1% on-year in June, according to data published by China's National Bureau of Statistics.
The reading beat the 0.1% drop forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists and perked up after a 0.1% fall seen in May.
In a signal of further deflationary pressure, however, Chinese factory gate prices fell in June at the fastest rate in nearly two years, the NBS said.
The producer price index declined 3.6%, accelerating from a 3.3% drop in May, and faster than the 3.2% decline estimated in the Bloomberg survey.
"In the meantime, the relative strengthening of the CNY over the past few months and persistently soft inflation give the People's Bank of China room to cut rates further later in the year, if needed. With activity data softening slightly in recent months, but not signalling a sense of immediate urgency, we currently expect the next rate cut to come in the fourth quarter," analysts at ING commented.
A barrel of Brent faded to USD69.57 early Wednesday, from USD69.87 late Tuesday afternoon. Gold fell to USD3,293.10 an ounce from USD3,297.61.
Wednesday's local corporate calendar has a trading statement from Gym Group, and annual results from low-cost airline Jet2 and vehicle rental and fleet management solutions firm Zigup.
On the economic calendar, minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting are released at 1900 BST.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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