ECB rate decision/statement and Draghi's presser the main highlight today
Happy Thursday, everyone! Hope you're all doing well after the meltdown in Wall Street yesterday. That's carrying over to Asian equities trading today but the rout is much calmer as US equity futures aren't free falling or anything just yet as we begin the new trading day.
Risk sentiment will be the major theme at play but we'll also have the "small" little issue of the ECB coming up in trading later:
0600 GMT - Germany November GfK consumer confidence
Prior release can be found here. The reading measures the level of consumer confidence in economic activity. A minor data point but after the soft data readings yesterday, further softness in German economic sentiment will not be too encouraging for euro traders. The release here has been rescheduled to tomorrow.
0800 GMT - Germany October Ifo business climate index
Prior release can be found here. A measure of business conditions and sentiment/expectations towards the German economy. Do be reminded the Ifo changed the indicator measurement to take into account of services data too as of April 2018. Not a major release by any means but once again it's one of those that builds into overall economic sentiment of the German and Eurozone economies.
1145 GMT - ECB October monetary policy decision and statement
The ECB won't be tweaking rates here and are not expected to do so until around Q4 2019 at least. The key to watch out here will be if they confirm/reaffirm QE ending in December 2019 and if they highlight any concerns on Italy/global markets. Other than that, expect language on monetary policy and rate guidance to remain similar.
1230 GMT - ECB president Mario Draghi press conference
I don't expect Draghi to rock the boat in his presser today as everything is falling into place for the central bank. The euro may jump a little on small comments here and there but it won't be a game changer unless he highlights real concerns about Italy or potential threats to the ECB's overall outlook.
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and as always, good luck with your trading!
