Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

Blue chips are headed for a drop early on in Thursday's session, reversing the gains seen on Wednesday as concern about the bond market and predictions from the European Central Bank (ECB) that market volatility will persist weigh on investor sentiment.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around points 32 points lower than Wednesday's close of 6,950.46.Investors will also be looking for any news coming out from Greece, while gearing up for Friday's all-important US employment data.On Thursday's agenda is the release of the Bank of England's (BoE) latest policy decision, although this is likely to be a non-event, with analysts expecting no surprises.The BoE is expected to maintain interest rates at 0.5% and the asset purchase programme at £375bn, amid low inflation and subdued growth.The minutes of last meeting showed policymakers expected a rate rise next year.Daniel Vernazza economist at Unicredit Research said: "Financial markets have recently pushed back their expectation for the timing of the first 25bp hike to the third quarter of 2016 from mid-2016 and continue to expect only a very gradual path of rate hikes thereafter."In company news, medical technology group Smith & Nephew has chosen to remove one of its hip devices from the market, based on recent performance data. Analysis of the component, which is part of its Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System, shows that revision rates associated with men requiring a particular size, and with all women patients, exceed the current benchmark established by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).Platinum and palladium refiner Johnson Matthey posted a 22% rise in fiscal 2015 pre-tax profit to £495.8m, boosted by the £69.7m sale of the Gold and Silver Refining business in March 2015.NMC Health has completed its acquisition of Americare Group, which provides in-home healthcare services in the United Arab Emirates, ahead of schedule. Excluding synergies, the transaction is expected to be accretive with a positive effect on NMC's consolidated margins and yield an attractive return on invested capital (ROIC), it said.