London pre-open: Little change expected ahead of data

15th Oct 2014 07:46

There is little change expected at Wednesday's opening bell, with City sources predicting the FTSE 100 will open around three points lower than Tuesday's close of 6,392.68.The session is set to be data-heavy, with the release of reports on Chinese inflation, German inflation, UK jobs and US retail sales.The annual rate of Chinese consumer price inflation fell to a near-five-year low at 1.6% in September from 2% a month earlier. China's government is struggling to meet its annual growth target of 7.5% amid a batch of recent weak economic releases.In Europe, German inflation is tipped to be confirmed at 0.8% in September as the European Central Bank (ECB) comes under pressure to address price instability and a stagnant recovery in the Eurozone.Markets will therefore be closely watching ECB President Mario Draghi closely when he speaks in Frankfurt at 19:00 London time.UK employment data is forecast to show jobless claims fell 35,000 in September and the unemployment rate dropped to 6.1% in August from 6.2% in July.Employers are forecast to have added 30,000 jobs in the three months to August, while weekly earnings are expected to have risen 0.8% over the period.In the US, a report on retail sales will be in focus with analysts projecting a 0.1% drop in September. Consumer spending is a major contributor to gross domestic product in the world's biggest economy.In company news, mining group Rio Tinto said it achieved "another strong quarter" with iron ore shipments, production and rail volumes reaching record highs, while it lifted its full-year guidance for copper output. The company expects to produce 615,000 tonnes of copper this year, up from its previous guidance of 585,000.After US drugmaker Abbvie on Tuesday night said it was reconsidering its takeover of Shire, the UK company has pointed out it would be due a break fee of roughly $1.64bn if the deal falls through. Abbvie said in a statement that its board would meet next week to discuss whether to shelve its July recommendation that shareholders vote in favour of a takeover of Shire.Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has appointed Qinetiq's chief executive officer Leo Quinn to take up the same position on its own board, starting at the beginning of 2015. He has spent five years in the role at Qinetiq and prior to that held the same role at De La Rue. He is due to exit Qinetiq at the end of this year.BG Group has poached the chief executive of Statoil, Norway's biggest energy company, as its new chief. Helge Lund will begin as chief executive of the FTSE 100 company on 2 March 2015.US smartphone chipmaking giant Qualcomm has agreed a 900p-per-share takeover of London-listed CSR, valuing the company at £1.56bn. The offer price represents a premium of approximately 56.5% to CSR shares on 27 August when Qualcomm made its intentions be known.