Voters in Lower Saxony heading to the polling booths today 15 Oct

Latest polls are suggesting a late surge for her party's SDP opponents, who have governed the region since 2013.

Coalition talks have been kept on hold since the recent federal elections and today's outcome will have a bearing on Merkel's meeting with the FDP and Greens on Wednesday.

Lower Saxony is home to car maker VW whose cheating on diesel emissions became a central theme of those federal elections 3 weeks ago.

More from Bloomberg here

Also today sees Austria heading to the polls in what is considered a key election with immigration issues at the forefront. If the polls are correct, then a shake-up in the political landscape could be seen.

The BBC has more here

All potentially impacting EUR pairs at the Asian opening.

Also, don't forget to keep an eye out for headlines from the panel discussion later today in the US featuring Yellen, Zhou, Kuroda and Constancio that I mentioned yesterday.

Merkel - Tough times still ahead