Before the trillion-dollar megacap tech groups make their appearance later, a selection of London's blue chips have a chance to impress, including Primark owner Associated British Foods PLC (LSE:ABF), which has been sashaying higher so far this year, continuing a rally since sinking to 10-year lows back in October.
But with the shares still down more than 20% from where they were before the first Covid lockdown in early 2020, with analysts saying a recent trading update and the outlook statement will be more important than the first-half numbers.
At Whitbread PLC (LSE:WTB), new boss, Dominic Paul, will face his first assessment from investors as the Premier Inns owner reports full-year results, with the main focus being whether he can control costs as part of a target to regain pre-pandemic profit levels this year.
Later, Google owner Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)) is expected to post a mixed bag, while Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also up in the air, with bulls and bears both making convincing statements.
Significant announcements
Trading updates: IWG PLC (LSE:IWG), Jupiter Fund Management PLC (LSE:JUP), Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK) PLC, WAG Payment Solutions PLC (LSE:WPS),
Interims: AB Dynamics PLC (AIM:ABDP), Associated British Foods PLC, Focusrite PLC (AIM:TUNE)
Finals: Avacta Group PLC (AIM:AVCT), Card Factory (LSE:CARD) PLC, Corero Network Security PLC (AIM:CNS), Dillistone Group (AIM:DSG) PLC, Hvivo PLC, Jadestone Energy PLC (AIM:JSE), Keystone Law Group PLC (AIM:KEYS), Next 15 Group PLC (AIM:NFG), Northcoders Group PLC (AIM:CODE), Oxford Biomedica PLC, Whitbread PLC
AGMs: Aquis Exchange Ltd, Beazley PLC (LSE:BEZ), CLS Holdings Plc (LSE:CLI), Entain PLC (LSE:ENT), GlobalData PLC (AIM:DATA), NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG), SigmaRoc PLC (AIM:SRC), VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities PLC
Economic announcements: Public Sector Net Borrowing (UK), House Price Index (US), Consumer Confidence (US), New Homes Sales (US)
US earnings: Alphabet Inc, 3M Co (NYSE:MMM), General Electric (NYSE:GE) Company, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN), McDonald's Corp, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Inc, Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT), Verizon Communications, Visa Inc (NYSE:V)