London pre-open: Strong start expected on FTSE as US hopes grow

15th Oct 2013 07:35

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 35 points higher than yesterday's close of 6,507.65, tracking US stocks higher after they rallied to finish in positive territory on hopes that lawmakers are closing in on a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a default.The deal, which has yet to be finalised, would raise the debt ceiling until early February, reopen the government until January and include a mechanism to force lawmakers into longer-term budget discussions, the Financial Times reported. The S&P 500, which hit an intraday low of 1,692 early on, finished close to its historical high at 1,710. On today's agenda are announcements on UK CPI, RPI as well as the producer price index, while across the Channel data will be pubished on French CPI, the German balance of payments, as well as the results of both the German and EU ZEW surveys. In today's company news, AstraZeneca's biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, has acquired Spirogen, a privately-held biotech company focused on antibody-drug conjugate technology for use in oncology. The drugs giant said MedImmune has also entered into a collaboration agreement with ADC Therapeutics to jointly develop two of the latter's antibody-drug conjugate programmes in preclinical development.Hargreaves Lansdown achieved record assets under administration (AuA) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014. The financial services company reported AuA of £39.3bn in the three months to September 30th, up 7.9% from the previous quarter's £36.4bn.Angela Ahrendts, Burberry's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 2006, is joining US tech giant Apple next year, leaving Chief Creative Officer (CCO) Christopher Bailey in charge. Bailey, who has been with the high-end luxury brand since 2001, is widely seen as one of the most influential people in the fashion industry, overseeing product design and development, creative marketing, store design and digital innovation over the past six years as CCO.NR