(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)MOST FOLLOWED So will 'Super Thursday' prove to be 'Thunderous Thursday' The day is named after the Norse god of thunder after all. As the last time the Bank of England changed its interest rate veteran Chelsea defender John Terry was in short trousers (he changed into them just before the announcement was made) it is understandable the media is getting mildly excited by changes to the central bank's monthly routine. The bank is set to announce its decision on interest rate and asset purchase policy release the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (the team that makes those decisions) and also publish its quarterly inflation report all on the same day. In days gone by those announcements would have been spread over two weeks but governor Mark Carney wants the bank to fall in line with the world's other leading central banks and hold a press conference to explain its thinking on interest rates. It is all part of Carney's commitment to more transparency on the decision-making process. One of his earliest decisions upon taking up the role as BoE governor was to commit to providing 'forward guidance' – there being little demand for 'backward guidance' presumably – in the name of transparency but what former prime minister Harold Macmillan once described as 'events dear boy' quickly put the kybosh on that idea. Let's see how long the new idea lasts. Insurers are in focus this morning with RSA (LON:RSA) and Aviva (LON:AV.) both reporting. The former is in the sights of Zurich Insurance and coincidentally the Swiss firm has also released results today in which it pledged not to overpay for RSA. In the list of largely pointless statements this ranks high but at least the company did not describe guidance as 'forward guidance'. Back to RSA which has reinstated its dividend. History suggests that if it maintains its independence it will cut it again at some point as this seems to be the way of insurance firms. Talking of which Aviva (LON:AV.) which cut its dividend in early 2013 beat forecasts with its interim profits so it could justifiably argue that upsetting income investors in the short term was worth it in the long term. Among the small caps announcements from Sound Oil and ValiRx have caught the eye of private investors. Sound Oil (LON:SOU) has signed a deal for the Nervesa gas field that represents its first engagement with integrated oil major Shell (LON:RDSB). The agreement for the Casa Tonetto production concession which hosts Nervesa is with Shell Energy Italia. Cancer drug developer ValiRx (LON:VAL) has signed a new collaborative research project with Professor Paul Taylor the co-inventor of one of its two treatments currently going through clinical trials. LONDON OPEN London shares started Thursday on the back foot as falling crude prices hit oil & gas majors. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 18.97 points to 6733 as the price of a barrel of US light crude dropped to just over US$45. BP (LON:BP.) backtracked 13.7p to 381.35p Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) leaked 8p to 1868p and BG Group (LON:BG.) deflated 4p to 1097.5p. Miners did better after Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) blamed lower iron ore prices for a big profit dip but maintained its dividend. Rio's shares rose 11p to 2578.5p. Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) also sparkled 49p to 3882p on news of a quarterly gold production record. Shares in GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) were 20p healthier at 1439p on market talk of a potential £98bn takeover by US rival Pfizer or Swiss drug group Novartis. On the economic front Mark Carney's Bank of England was due to provide the market with not one but three possible trading triggers. For the first time the central bank was set on the same day to announce the base interest rate and its minutes and shortly after that Carney will hold a press conference as well. Kathleen Brooks head of research at Forex.com and City Index said the Bank aimed to prepare the market for changes to monetary policy without causing excess volatility. 'The Bank wants the market to price in its next move in moderate steps without causing major swings in asset prices and panic' she said in a note. 'Now that the economy is back on its feet and wages are rising the Bank needs to come up with a strategy for hiking rates and getting the market comfortable with any change to borrowing costs in the coming months.' Admittedly after a number of years of unchanged rock bottom rates it is probably not that likely that all three will stimulate a market reaction but it will be a busy day on Threadneedle Street nonetheless. So traders will likely be watching and listening for clues about when a rate rise will come. Sentiment on Wall Street was weighed by continued low crude prices and expectations that the Federal Reserve was more likely to increase its interest rates next month. The Dow Jones meanwhile dropped back just 10 points to 15540. In Asia Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.5% lower while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei however gained around 0.6% to 20734. Back in London takeover target RSA Insurance (LON:RSA) was 7.5p lower at 516.5p despite reporting progress in its recovery drive and reinstating its dividend. Aerospace engineer Cobham (LON:COB) flew 20.5p higher to 283p as it posted higher orders revenue and profit. Investors in Enterprise Inns toasted a rise in sales as good weather encouraged people to visit the pub. Shares lifted 6.3p to 121p. In the small cap space Sound Oil (LON:SOU) said a gas sales deal has now been signed for the Nervesa gas field with Shell Energy Italia. Shares were jumped 7.6% to 15.8p. Meanwhile Cloudbuy (LON:CBUY) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of the city of Yiwu in China to help its wholesale marketplace promote itself overseas. Shares climbed 5% to 20p. Conversely shares in troubled firm Quindell (LON:QPP) slumped almost 30% to 88p as trading resumed for the first time in more than a month today. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened an investigation in the company which is believed to relate to past business and accounting practices at the company. MARKET PREVIEW Good morning and welcome to Super Thursday. Later today Mark Carney's Bank of England will provide the market with not one but three possible trading triggers. For the first time the central bank will on the same day announce the base interest rate and its minutes and shortly after that Carney will hold a press conference as well. Kathleen Brooks head of research at Forex.com and City Index explains that BoE's aim is to prepare the market for changes to monetary policy without causing excess market volatility. 'The Bank wants the market to price in its next move in moderate steps without causing major swings in asset prices and panic in the market' she said in a note. 'This is more important now than ever due to the long hiatus between rate hikes potentially eight years. Rates are at historic lows and have been kept on hold for an unprecedented amount of time. 'Now that the economy is back on its feet and wages are rising the Bank needs to come up with a strategy for hiking rates and getting the market comfortable with any change to borrowing costs in the coming months.' Admittedly after a number of years of unchanged rock bottom rates it is probably not that likely that all three will stimulate a market reaction but it will be a busy day on Threadneedle Street nonetheless. So traders will likely be watching and listening for clues about when a rate rise will come. UK stocks are expected to start on the back foot; following US and Asian stocks lower. Sentiment on Wall Street was weighed by continued low crude prices and expectations that the Federal Reserve was more likely to increase its interest rates next month. That said both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to muster enough of a fight-back to break a three-day losing streak as the benchmarks added 6 points and 34 points respectively by the close of Wednesday's session. The Dow Jones meanwhile dropped back just 10 points to 15540. In Asia Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.5% lower while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei however gained around 0.6% to 20734. Australia's ASX 200 shed 1.3% to 5601. India's Sensex was mostly flat while in another emerging market Brazil's Bovespa gained about 0.5%. In London the FTSE 100 is expected to begin Thursday's trading lower with IG Markets calling the blue-chip benchmark down around 30 points at 6717 to 6722.
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