London pre-open: Muted start expected; HSBC Q3 profits drop
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Tuesday 28 Oct 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted start on Tuesday as investors digested quarterly results from HSBC and the latest shop price data from the BRC.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around five points higher.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, all eyes will be on the latest policy announcements from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
On the corporate front, big tech earnings across the pond will be in focus, with Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta due to report on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "In the coming days, we'll find out Big Tech's spending plans, which will directly affect chip-demand forecasts.
"Together, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta are expected to have spent over $100 billion in Q3, most of it on chips and data centres. Bubble or not, the money is being spent, the rally is on = and it's not a bubble until it bursts."
On home shores, the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ showed that increased competition among retailers and widespread discounting resulted in a slowdown in UK shop price inflation in October.
Shop prices were up 1.0% year-on-year in October, with growth slowing from 1.4% in September, the BRC-NIQ Shop Price Monitor showed.
Non-food prices fell by 0.4%, following a 0.1% fall in September, while food inflation eased to 3.7% from 4.2%, as a pickup in fresh food inflation to 4.3% from 4.1% was offset by a sharp drop in ambient food inflation to 2.9% from 4.2%.
"Easing global sugar prices helped to bring down prices of chocolate and confectionary, a treat for those preparing Halloween parties," said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson. "Beyond food, discounts came early to electricals and health and beauty, as retailers started promotions ahead of Black Friday month."
Dickinson said that, ahead of the Budget announced in late-November, the government needs to relieve cost pressures on both consumers and retailers.
"Labour's promised business rates reform must deliver a meaningful cut to retailers' rates bills, and ensure that no store pays more. Rising employer National Insurance Contributions and a new packaging tax have directly contributed towards rising inflation, according to the Bank of England. Adding further taxes on retail businesses would inevitably keep inflation higher for longer," she said.
In corporate news, HSBC reported a fall in third-quarter profits as a $1.1bn legal charge weighed on the bottom line.
Pre-tax profit for the three months to September fell 14% to $7.3bn. Net interest income for the quarter rose 15% year on year to $8.8bn, driven by a 30% jump in income from its wealth division to $2.68bn.
Operating expenses rose 24%, as it set aside provisions including $1.1bn after losing an appeal in a long-running lawsuit in Luxembourg related to Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
Mining giant Anglo American posted a mixed set of third-quarter production figures, with gains in copper, manganese and diamonds offset by declines in iron ore and steelmaking coal.
Anglo American said copper output rose 1% year-on-year to 183,500 tonnes, while manganese ore production surged 140% to 972,800 tonnes. Rough diamond output jumped 38% to 7.7m carats, while nickel production edged up 2% to 10,100 tonnes.
However, iron ore output fell 9% to 14.3m tonnes, and steelmaking coal production dropped 54% to 1.9m tonnes.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca said that its Koselugo asset has been approved for usage in the European Union for the rare, progressive, genetic condition, plexiform neurofibromas, in adults with neurofibromatosis type 1.
AstraZeneca said the European Commission's approval follows the positive opinion of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use and was based on results from KOMET, the largest and only placebo-controlled global Phase III trial in this patient population.
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