What are the main events for today?

The main event in the European session was the release of the UK Retail Sales data which missed expectations across the board by a big margin. The GBP is currently under pressure as a result. We will also have the Eurozone CPI report but it’s the final reading, so it’s unlikely to be market moving.

In the American session, we get some growth related data with the US Housing Starts and Building Permits and the US Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization. They aren’t market moving releases in general unless there are big deviations from the expected numbers.

Central bank speakers:

• 10:00 GMT – ECB’s Nagel (hawk – voter)
• 10:30 GMT – ECB’s Escriva (dove – non voter in Jan)
• 11:00 GMT – ECB’s Cipollone (dove – voter)
• 17:00 GMT/12:00 ET – BoE’s Bailey (neutral – voter)

This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at www.forexlive.com.