2nd Jan 2026 06:53
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday, starting the year in positive territory as markets digest recent US labour data and mixed signals from global equities.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open higher 19.1 points, or 0.2% at 9,950.48 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed 0.1% lower at 9,931.38 points on Wednesday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3466 early Friday, marginally higher than USD1.3463 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
The euro traded at USD1.1743 early Friday, slightly lower than USD1.1754 late Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY156.98, up from JPY156.62.
In the US on Wednesday, initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell in the latest reporting week. According to the Department of Labor, new claims for unemployment insurance in the week to December 27 declined to 199,000 from the prior week's revised figure of 215,000. The reading came in below the FXStreet-cited consensus forecast of 220,000.
The previous week's figure to December 20 was revised up by 1,000 to 215,000 from an initial estimate of 214,000. The four-week moving average rose to 218,750, up by 1,750 from the previous week's revised average. Continuing claims also declined, falling to 1.866 million in the week to December 20 from 1.913 million in the prior week.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended the year lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.8%.
Linh Tran, market analyst at XS.com, said: "The outlook for the S&P 500 in 2026 no longer reflects the relatively easy growth conditions seen during 2023 - 2024, when valuations were lower and expectations for interest rate cuts were still wide. Instead, the US equity market is entering a phase in which most expectations have already been at least partially priced in, forcing investors to reassess the quality of corporate growth rather than simply extrapolating past trends."
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump delayed steeper tariffs on some imported furniture items by a year, ordering the postponement shortly before they were due to take effect on Thursday. Late on Wednesday, Trump pushed planned tariffs of 30% on certain upholstered furniture and 50% on kitchen cabinets and vanities back to January 1, 2027.
"Given the ongoing productive negotiations regarding the imports of wood products, the president is delaying the tariff increase to allow for further negotiations to occur with other countries," the White House said in a statement announcing the move.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.2%.
Australia's manufacturing sector continued to expand in December amid rising new orders and output, with firms expressing confidence for the year ahead, S&P Global reported. The S&P Global Australia manufacturing PMI stood at 51.6 points in December, unchanged from November.
Gold was quoted at USD4,376.70 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD4,315.00 on Wednesday.
Brent oil was trading at USD61.22 a barrel early Friday, lower than USD61.56 late Wednesday.
In Friday's corporate calendar, there are no UK company events scheduled.
In the economic calendar on Friday, a broad slate of manufacturing purchasing managers' index data is due for Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, the eurozone, the UK, Canada and the US.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News reporter
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