London pre-open: Footsie set to reclaim 5,500

15th Jan 2010 07:35

A modest gain in the US overnight should be enough to get London back above 5,500, futures prices reveal.The FTSE 100 is expected to add about 11 points after American investors shrugged off a surprise drop in retail sales, rise in unemployment and President Obama's new multi-billion dollar bank tax.Better than expected fourth quarter results from chip giant Intel, announced after hours, could improve sentiment over here.On home soil, Man Group suffered a 4% drop in funds under management during the third quarter, mainly due to the $1.2bn pulled out of its flagship AHL fund. Funds under Management (FUM) at 31 December slipped to $42.4bn from $44bn at the end of September, traditionally a quiet period for sales. Man said the negative movement at AHL reflected difficult trading conditions for managed futures strategies particularly in December.Latin America was once again a bright spot for credit checking firm Experian, which saw underlying organic revenue growth of 1% in the last three months of 2009, but the group remains cautious on the outlook for the UK. The UK & Ireland saw revenue dip 3% on a constant currency basis in the third quarter, while organic growth was negative, at -2%. A 'modest' improvement in group organic revenue growth is forecast for Q4.FT publisher Pearson has confirmed it is looking at possible options for its Interactive Data subsidiary, including the sale of its 61% stake. Its interest in the New York-listed provider of financial market data, analytics and related solutions, currently valued at $2.4bn, is worth about $1.5bn. Private equity firms and rival data providers such as Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters would be the obvious bidders analysts said.