What's in store today...

It's that time of the month again when the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) comes together to decide the interest rate.

Again, the expectations is that rates will remain unchanged at 0.50%, given the state of the UK economy.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said it now looks unlikely that interest rates will rise before 2012, as higher rates will act as an extra handicap that the fragile economy can well do without.

"Indeed, mounting growth concerns mean that if the Bank of England does act this year, it looks increasingly possible that it will be to relax monetary policy through reviving quantitative easing which has been on hold since February 2010."

On to the corporate calendar, and the recruitment sector gets a look in on Thursday with Hays's (HAS) trading statement.

The company is up against its toughest year-on-year comparative for fiscal fourth quarter. Growth has been driven by the international operations, with UK net fees largely static for the past nine months. There is unlikely to be an improvement in the UK, with further public sector cuts likely to weigh.

High street stationer WH Smith (SMWH) also enters the fray today, and the pressure is on.

Its second quarter like-for-likes were weak across both the high street and travel businesses and this deterioration in the underlying markets is likely to continue. However, Numis analyst Andrew Wade believes WH Smith will continue to demonstrate tight cost control and delivery space growth.

"On the back of the interims, we left our £92.9 million pre-tax profit forecast to August 2011 unchanged. The shares have been reasonable performers and WH Smith is a solid, cash generative business with a 5% dividend yield and we continue to see value at this level," he said.

Results

(Finals) Begbies Traynor Group, DTZ Holdings, NCC Group

(Interim) Sandvine Corporation

Trading updates

Dunelm Group, Man Group, Hays, London Capital Group Holdings, WH Smith

AGM

Aveva Group, Alexon Group, Babcock International Grou, Boussard & Gavaudan Holdings, Chaarat Gold Holdings, Man Group, Great Portland Estates, Heavitree Brewery, May Gurney Integrated Services, MCB Finance Group