Today's top story: Summer lull for London house prices
Today's leader: EU exit puts Tories in a perilous position
The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat today after closing up for the week on Friday despite trade war fears and continued Brexit-related political turmoil.
Markets in Asia opened strongly this morning following a positive performance by US equities on Friday, but faded on economic data coming out of China that showed growth had slowed slightly in the second quarter to 6.7 per cent, which some analysts put down to fears of the effect of steep tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese goods.
This week is set to be a big one politically as Prime Minister Theresa May attempts to push her Chequers Brexit deal through Parliament in the face of opposition from some MPs on both the Brexit and remain wings of her party.
US President Donald Trump continues his European tour with a summit in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Oil prices have fallen slightly with a barrel of Brent crude priced at $74.83 (£56.50), a fall of more than half a percentage point. Oil traders will be closely watching the Helsinki summit after Trump's calls for major oil producers (such as Russia) to increase output to cut prices.
London Capital Group predict the FTSE will open unchanged on 7,661, Germany's Dax will open 12 points higher at 12,552 and France's CAC will open 13 points higher at 5,442.
Corporate news
- WH Ireland – the wealth management and corporate broking firm has its final results today
- Netflix – streaming company and US stock market darling release quarterly trading figures tonight
Data
- 10.00 – EU trade balance
- 13.30 – US retail sales (excluding cars)
