London pre-open: Stocks to open marginally lower

18th Jan 2012 07:25

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down 5 points from yesterday's close of 5,693, ahead of today's unemployment rate announcement. It seems that yesterday's cheery mood - on the back of positive economic data from China, Germany and the US - was short-lived, as attention also turns to crucial meetings in Greece today. Struggling hedge fund manager Man Group saw funds under management (FUM) slump by six billion dollars in the final quarter of 2011. FUM at the end of the year stood at $58.4bn, versus $64.5bn at the end of September and $69.1bn at the end of March. The group experienced a net outflow of $2.5bn during the final quarter of 2011.JD Wetherspoon, the ever-expanding pubs group, said like-for-like (LFL) sales increased by 3.6% year-on-year in the group's second quarter, which runs to the middle of January. That represents a quickening of growth from the 1.1% LFL growth achieved in the first quarter. December LFL sales were strong, mainly due to adverse weather conditions last year. Sales growth for the period before and after December was roughly in line with the first quarter.Irish oil group Tullow expects to post record financial results for 2011 once all the numbers have been totted up, with sales revenue of $2.3bn more than double that of 2010. Capital expenditure of $1.4bn is set to be ramped up to $2bn in 2012. Net debt at 31 December 2011 was in the region of $2.8bn.NR