After the excitement of yesterday, it will probably be a relief to have a quieter day on the corporate front..
The main interest, aside from digesting all of Wednesday's numbers and probably the next installment of the VW saga, will be a trading statement from transport group FirstGroup (LON:FGP), in which traders will be keen to see how closely the firm is aligned to previously stated goals.
In the last trading statement covering the first quarter in mid-July the transport operator forecast lower UK rail earnings after franchises ended but said passenger revenue rose strongly.
First, which also runs Greyhound buses in the USA, said its UK train arm would contribute substantially less to group earnings in the first quarter due to its loss of the First Capital Connect and Scotrail franchises. But it said the division, which includes First Great Western, increased like-for-like passenger revenue by 6.3% in the period.
Investors will be keen to see the result of all this in today's market update.
The group's UK buses boosted like-for-like revenue by 1.4%, with commercial passenger revenue continuing to grow more than 2%, partially offset by lower concessionary revenue.
At Greyhound, flexible costs helped to offset demand challenges from cheaper fuel, while a yield management project was on track.
In First Student in the US, it said it was achieving average price increases of more than 5% and its contract retention rate topped 80%.
Other announcements expected
Economic: UK CIPS manufacturing survey, US ISM manufacturing survey, US weekly jobless claims, US Markit manufacturing survey, EU Markit manufacturing survey