The FTSE 100 is expected to rise 27 points (0.45 percent) this morning after falling 21 points (0.35 percent) to end Wednesday’s session at 6,002. Government services group Serco (LON:SRP) ended Wednesday’s session atop the leaderboard in the FTSE 100 with a 4 percent gain. Chipmaker ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) followed, climbing 2.4 percent. Medical devices manufacturer Smith & Nephew (LON:SN) and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) both added 1.7 percent. Credit information group Experian (LON:EXPN) and quality and safety services group Intertek (LON:ITRK) both tacked on 1.5 percent. Banks Barclays (LON:BARC) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) were at the bottom of the FTSE 100 pile yesterday, sliding 3.8 percent and 3.4 percent respectively. Communications group WPP (LON:WPP) and International Airlines Group (LON:AIG) both dropped 3 percent. US stocks closed in the black yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) advanced 56 points (0.45 percent) to end the session at 12,626. The broader S&P 500 index climbed 1.5 points (0.1 percent) to 1,339. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) led the DJIA components yesterday, closing with a 1.5 percent gain. Intel Corp (NYSE:INTC) and DuPont (LON:DD) both added 1.4 percent. IBM (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT) and 3M (NYSE:MMM) all tacked on a little more than 1 percent. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was the heaviest faller in DJIA, shedding 2.4 percent. AT&T (NYSE:T) and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) both lost just over 1 percent. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was flat at 10,082 just before close of play. China’s Shanghai Composite Index held steady at 2,811 at the end of the session. Commodities US light, sweet crude for August delivery rose to US$97.36/barrel overnight in Asia. August Brent crude stood at US$114.02/barrel this morning. Precious metals were on the rise this morning. Gold reached US$1,533/oz, while silver and platinum climbed to US$36.24/oz and US$1,729/oz respectively. Base metals rose this morning. Copper and nickel climbed to US$4.32/lb and US$10.62/lb. Zinc stood at US$1.073/lb. Today’s macroeconomic data will include weekly jobless claims figures from the US Labor Department and Bloomberg’s US consumer confidence survey. Updates on UK industrial and manufacturing production will be released this morning. The Bank of England is set to announce its decision on interest rates at 12:00 UK time.

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