French and German Q4 GDP figures in focus today

It was all about the memes yesterday as the chaos continues with brokerages giving retail traders a first hand account on what the rules in the "market" are. Robinhood basically just gave a tutorial of how to kill one's entire reputation in less than 8 hours.

Granted, risk management may be part of the picture considering options that are expiring today but essentially, it is a big middle finger to retail traders overall.

But hey, such is the way the "market" functions and you pretty much have to adapt or get swept away by the current.

The Robinhood case is prompting US lawmakers to get involved but anyone expecting "justice" would be better off looking for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I mean let's be real, we're talking about politicians here. Ugh.

In any case, the broader market took that as a sign of "normalisation" and US equities rallied strongly before giving back some of that gains later on in the day.

Silver was a major beneficiary of a lot of hype talk as it climbed 6% in an hour, before gains are seen easing back to around $26 now as things calm down.

The dollar is keeping firmer so far today as risk-off tones are starting to resurface but are we going to see a turnaround again ahead of US trading? I wouldn't rule that out though month-end trading can be tricky even at the best of times.

0630 GMT - France Q4 preliminary GDP report

Prior (Q3) report can be found here. Amid tighter restrictions being introduced in November, French economic activity is expected to contract once again in the final quarter of last year by an estimated -4.0% q/q reading. It's not much of a surprise but it reaffirms the narrative that a double-dip recession looks plausible in Europe amid the virus crisis.

0700 GMT - Germany December import price index

Prior release can be found here. A lagging and proxy indicator of inflation pressures. Not a major release by any means.

0700 GMT - Germany Q4 preliminary GDP report

Prior (Q3) report can be found here. German manufacturing held up somewhat and that should translate to stagnation in economy activity in the final quarter of last year. Nonetheless, the subdued reading should see the euro area economy as a whole stay on track for a possible double-dip recession with Q1 economic prospects rather dim as well.

0800 GMT - Switzerland January KOF leading indicator index

Prior release can be found here. The data measures the future trends of overall economic activity in the Swiss economy. A minor data point.

0855 GMT - Germany January unemployment change, rate

Prior release can be found here. The German jobless rate is estimated to keep steady at 6.1% again, though labour market data has been largely obscured by the furlough and short-time work schemes so it is tough to extrapolate much from this report.

0900 GMT - Eurozone December M3 money supply data

Prior release can be found here. A look at broad money growth in the euro area to round off last year, which should reflect continued swelling as the ECB continues to pump more liquidity into the market in general amid the virus crisis.

That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading! Stay safe out there.