Source: Sharecast
At 1500 BST, the Institute for Supply Management was scheduled to publish its closely followed Purchasing Managers' Index for the American services sector covering the month of July.
In parallel, the U.S. Department of Labor would release the results of its JOLTS survey for June.
That report often garnered a fair bit of attention, despite being a bit dated, as it provided insights into the state of demand for labour.
Earlier in the session, S&P Global would release final readings for its services sector Purchasing Managers' Indices for the euro area's largest economies and the UK, also for the month of July.
In Asia, investors' attention would be on the Reserve Bank of Australia was expected to announce a 25 basis point interest rate in official short-term interest rates to 4.35%.
BP would be in the spotlight in company news with the oil major scheduled to deliver its first half results.
In particular, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, noted how the shares had fallen back despite its first quarter beat on revenues and sharp rise in attributable profits.
He wasn't surprised given how much lower prices now were.
Hewson also noted how oil companies had started to push back on the prevailing narrative of no new capacity.
"This is a welcome development in helping to keep a lid on prices, with BP bringing a new platform online Mad Dog Phase 2, in the Gulf of Mexico," he said.
In any case, at the time of its second quarter results BP had been "slightly more downbeat" on the outlook as it expected oil and gas output to be lower than seasonal maintenance, together with a squeeze on margins.
On the flip-side, management expressed confidence in its ability to deliver on its target for $4bn in share buybacks under the assumption of oil at $60 a barrel.
Thursday 03 August
INTERIMS
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (DI), Helios Towers , Helios Towers , Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES REIT P IRISH RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES ORD SHS, London Stock Exchange Group, Mears Group, Morgan Sindall Group, Quilter, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Serco Group, Shaftesbury Capital, Shaftesbury Capital, Smith & Nephew, Tritax Big Box Reit
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
WH Smith
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, Aptitude Software Group , Blackrock Throgmorton Trust, Foxtons Group , Inchcape, Jupiter Fund Management , Lloyds Banking Group, Mobico Group, Moneysupermarket.com Group, Nichols, Rathbones Group, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Relx plc, Rentokil Initial, RTC Group, Tyman, Vesuvius
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Brunner Inv Trust, Picton Property Income Ltd, Unilever
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
Factory Orders (US) (15:00)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)
ISM Services (US) (15:00)
PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)
PMI Composite (GER) (08:55)
PMI Composite (US) (14:45)
PMI Services (EU) (09:00)
PMI Services (GER) (08:55)
PMI Services (US) (14:45)
Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)
Q2
Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Smith & Nephew
FINALS
Omega Diagnostics Group, Omega Diagnostics Group
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust
SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Foresight VCT, Jupiter Fund Management , Latham (James)
EGMS
Landore Resources Limited NPV
AGMS
Caffyns, Distil, Edenville Energy , Investec, Ukrproduct Group Ltd
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next, Smith & Nephew
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BoE Interest Rate Decision (12:00)
PMI Composite (09:30)
PMI Services (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Caledonia Investments, GB Group
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
BT Group, CML Microsystems, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Latham (James), Oxford Instruments, Triple Point Venture Vct
Q1
Wizz Air Holdings
