European markets open for closing, earnings, data and news

UK house prices rose 1.7% in the year to June, according to data From the National Statistics Office. This number is down from the 1.8% increase recorded in May, and is the smallest rise since July 2020.

The median home price in the UK was £288,000 ($367,000) in June, £5,000 below its most recent high in November 2022.

London had the lowest annual percentage change in England, where prices fell 0.6%.

– Hannah Ward Glinton

The pound rose against the dollar after data showed UK inflation slowed to 6.8% in July.

The pound was up 0.2% against the dollar at $1.2729 at 7.39am London time.

UK headline inflation slowed sharply in July to 6.8% annually, but core CPI remained unchanged, posing a potential headache for the Bank of England.

The headline CPI reading was in line with consensus expectations among economists polled by Reuters, and tracking a lower-than-expected reading of 7.9% in June. On a monthly basis, the core CPI fell -0.4% against consensus forecasts of -0.5%.

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– Elliott Smith

HSBC has identified 9 “junk stocks” listed on the London Stock Exchange that could be poised to rally due to several factors.

The investment bank said that UK markets are beginning to outperform other global indices for the first time this year since the UK’s June inflation data was released on July 18.

The bank’s strategists said that a basket of 9 stocks has strongly outperformed the broader FTSE 350 index over the past two months, returning 9% compared to a 0.6% decline for the benchmark.

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– Ganesh Rao

Fitch has warned that it may have to downgrade dozens of banks, including JPMorgan Chase. The agency already downgraded the industry back in June, but another downgrade will force it to reconsider the ratings of the more than 70 banks it covers.

“It’s not inevitable that it will go down,” analyst Chris Wolf said. “We could be in AA- for the next 10 years. But if it goes down, there will be consequences.”

– Fred Imbert, Heo Soon

Despite last week’s sell-off, this year’s strong rally means US markets are now trading at a slight discount compared to the start of the year, says Morningstar chief strategist Dave Sekera.

The chief US market analyst told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday that he expects yields to be “more muted” for the rest of the year.

In fact, this is a good time to sell and take profits on some stocks that’ve gone way up [they] Now it’s overdone and overdone.”

He designated six of those shares for sale, and told investors to buy five names instead.

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– Wizen tan

European markets are set to open lower on Wednesday, according to IG data. It seems that the British FTSE index will drop 12 points to 7374 points, the German DAX index 48 points to 15715, the French CAC 16 points to 7248 points, and the Italian FTSE MIB 91 points to 28173.

– Hannah Ward Glinton