Euro – European Markets The Euro is trading on a weaker footing against the majors this morning as traders remain focused on the ECB’s much awaited policy meeting scheduled later today. The ECB is expected to announce quantitative easing in the Euro zone to avert a deflationary threat in the region, especially after December’s inflation update in the region showed that consumer prices declined for the first time since October 2009. Unconfirmed reports revealed that the ECB’s expected stimulus package today will focus on the purchase of sovereign bonds worth €50 billion a month. Market participants will also keenly eye the ECB Chief’s press conference later today to gain an insight into the size and duration of the QE programme, along with some details over the distribution of the bond buying programme across the European nations. Later today, traders will keenly eye Euro zone’s flash consumer confidence reading which is expected to show an improvement for January. Going forward, tomorrow’s preliminary manufacturing and services PMI surveys across key European nations will be awaited to gauge the health of the private sector in the Euro bloc.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:50:52 +0000