London pre-open: Stocks seen down ahead of spending review, US inflation
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 11 Jun 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Wednesday ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' spending review and a key US inflation reading, as investors mulled news of a "framework" trade truce between the US and China.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around 20 points lower.
After two days of talks in London, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said both sides had agreed a framework for implementing the consensus reached in Geneva.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: "The big news on Wednesday is that the US/ China trade talks have come to an end. The talks concluded with a pledge to enforce the Geneva protocol on trade between the two nations, albeit with a renewed focus on some sensitive areas.
"China has pledged to speed up shipments of rare earth minerals to the US, while the US side has agreed to curb some export controls. This agreement still needs to be signed off by President Trump and President Xi, which may be why stocks are pointing to a lower open early this morning."
On the macro front, investors will be eyeing the US consumer price index for May at 1330 BST amid expectations for headline and core inflation to edge higher to 2.4% and 2.9% respectively.
"The big question is whether tariffs will start to impact US CPI," said Brooks. "We think it is too early for two reasons: 1, reciprocal tariffs are paused until July. Although there are higher tariff rates, for example, on steel and aluminum, it could be too early for these to feed through to consumer prices. 2, the economy slowed sharply in Q1, so fears about weak demand could keep the lid on goods and service inflation for now."
On home shores, meanwhile, Rachel Reeves will be delivering her spending review later.
In corporate news, healthcare property investment and management firm Assura agreed to an increased and final 52.1p-a-share offer from KKR and Stonepeak valuing the company at around £1.7bn.
The announcement comes days after Assura said due diligence in relation to a rival 51.7p takeover proposal from Primary Health Properties was still ongoing, with both parties "working closely" together.
Globaldata announced that ICG has walked away from takeover discussions after two months of speculation.
ICG and KKR had been circling the data analytics and consulting company since late April, though KKR talks were terminated two weeks ago after an agreement could not be reached.
ICG's 'put up or shut up' deadline was then extended to 1700 BST on Wednesday, but the private equity firm has now confirmed it does not intend to make an offer.
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