22nd Jan 2026 06:58
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Thursday, following US President Donald Trump's claim that his latest threatened batch of tariffs, against European countries resisting his quest to acquire Greenland, was now off the table.
"We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, after a meeting with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Meanwhile in the UK, the British Retail Consortium's January consumer sentiment monitor found that expectations for the state of the UK economy over the next three months improved to a net score of negative 32 in January from negative 38 in December. However, confidence around spending cooled markedly as households moved past Christmas.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 70.9 points, 0.7%, on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed up 0.1% at 10,138.09 on Wednesday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3423 early Thursday, lower than USD1.3437 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
The euro traded at USD1.1686 early Thursday, lower than USD1.1707 late Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted higher at JPY158.77 versus JPY158.18.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2%, the S&P 500 up 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.26%, trimmed from 4.27% on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.88%, narrowed from 4.89%.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.8%.
Gold was quoted at USD4,823.50 an ounce early Thursday, lower than USD4,833.66 on Wednesday.
Brent oil was trading at USD65.13 a barrel early Thursday, higher than USD64.82 late Wednesday.
In Thursday's corporate calendar, there are trading updates from AJ Bell, Auction Technology and Associated British Foods.
In the economic calendar on Thursday, there is public sector net borrowing from the UK to be out shortly, consumer confidence data from the eurozone, and several US releases, including GDP and quarterly PCE.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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