London pre-open: Flat start ahead of consumer confidence, German retail data

A flat start is expected for London-listed stocks this morning ahead of today's UK consumer confidence report and German retail data. City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open almost unchanged from yesterday's close of 6,871.29.According to forecasts, the GfK's consumer sentiment index is expected to increase to -2 this month from -3 in April.Meanwhile, economists are predicting that across the Channel German retail sales will have expanded to 0.4% in April following the -0.7% drop seen the previous month."Following another record close for the S&P 500 despite a poor first quarter growth revision, European markets look set to have a mixed open today as they look ahead to German retail sales figures and the ECB meeting next week," Jasper Lawler, Market Analyst at CMC Markets UK, said. "Trading has been a bit muted this week as traders are sitting on their hands in anticipation of the expected announcement of monetary easing from the ECB next week."We will also see the release of confidence data over in the US, where the University of Michigan is likely to revise its consumer confidence index upwards to 82.5 in May from 81.8 in April.Elsewhere in the States will be data including personal spending and the Chicago manufacturing purchasing managers' index.Overnight, Japan revealed CPI growth of 3.2% last month, a decade high. "This was just higher than expected with predictions already factoring in the effect of the consumption tax rise," Lawler explained. "Industrial production, however, contracted by 2.5% with businesses scaling back for fear of lower demand after the tax hike," he added. Meanwhile, in this morning's UK-listed company news, polymer products maker Fenner warned that underlying group profit before tax could be reduced by as much as 10-15% below current consensus market expectations of £77.6m. This was partly due to what are expected to be "significantly weaker" results from its ECS business in the US than previously anticipated for the remainder of the financial year ending August 31st. It explained both trading conditions and sentiment in the coal industry had deteriorated and are showing no prospects for imminent improvement.Unite, which builds and manages student accommodation in the UK, is to buy and redevelop a site in Portsmouth to create 830 new beds for those studying in the city. The company said that the 0.77-acre site, subject to planning permissions, "will help address the shortage of purpose built student accommodation in the city".GlaxoSmithKline is rumoured to have approached a number of private equity firms to gauge the interest for a range of its older drugs as it attempts to refresh its portfolio. According to various reports, the pharmaceutical group has contacted companies including Advent International, Blackstone and KKR regarding a £7.5bn portfolio of mature products.NR