London pre-open: Stocks seen up ahead of Powell speech

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday following a positive US session, as investors eyed a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium. The FTSE 100 was called to open 23 points higher at 7,502.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Having got off to a poor start to the week, US markets finished yesterday with a decent rebound ahead of today's speech by Fed chairman Jay Powell, which is scheduled for 3pm UK time.

"European markets have also stabilised in the past couple of days after some early week declines and are expected to open modestly higher this morning."

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "Mr. Powell can make no promises today. But we expect he will say that the path of rates is now data-dependent, which we would take to mean that if the August CPI and PPI number are decent, and the wages data are no stronger than in July, the Fed can pivot to a 50bp hike next month.

"That is our base case, but markets now price-in 67bp, so we see clear scope for a rally in risk assets before the meeting."

In corporate news, software maker Micro Focus said it had agreed a £5.1bn takeover by Canadian rival OpenText.

The offering is £5.32 per share, a 98% premium on Micro Focus's current share price, which has fallen 87% over the past three years.

Elsewhere, JTC said it has agreed to buy New York Private Trust Company (NYPTC), a non-deposit trust company headquartered in Delaware in the US, for an undisclosed sum.

NYPTC offers a broad range of fiduciary services, including trust services, estate administration services and white label trust services to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals and families and corporate clients.