ECB the highlight of the agenda in European trading today

Equities are in a more optimistic mood after the strong showing by Wall Street yesterday. We’ll have to see if stocks can keep pace for a more robust finish to the week, though there is still the key hurdle tomorrow to work through. The US jobs report is still the main event to watch on the agenda this week.

At the same time, the bond market is also starting to make some waves on the week. The key technical juncture here is being cracked a little with 10-year yields falling to 4.29% at the moment.

But so far, that hasn’t led to any overly significant moves in FX for the most part. The euro will be a focus point with the ECB coming up later in the day. That is the highlight of European trading, even as the central bank is widely expected to cut rates by 25 bps. As such, the key thing to watch on that will be Lagarde’s presser and how they lay out any changes to their communique on the next policy steps.

That said, if all goes according to plan, the ECB will look to maintain the status quo. It’s still all about trying to be data dependent and not pre-commit to anything.

0545 GMT – Switzerland May unemployment rate0600 GMT – Germany April industrial orders0730 GMT – Germany May construction PMI0830 GMT – UK May construction PMI0900 GMT – Eurozone April retail sales1130 GMT – US May Challenger layoffs, job cuts1215 GMT – ECB announces its June monetary policy decision1245 GMT – ECB president Lagarde press conference

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.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.