What are the main events for today?

In the European session we get the final readings of the Manufacturing PMIs for many major economies with also preliminary data for Spain, Switzerland and Italy. These aren’t generally market moving releases. The main highlight will be the Eurozone Flash CPI report. In the American session, the focus will switch to the US ISM Manufacturing PMI although another good report is expected given the S&P Global PMIs.

10:00 GMT – Eurozone February Flash CPI

The Eurozone CPI
Y/Y is expected at 2.3% vs. 2.5% prior, while the Core CPI Y/Y is seen at 2.6%
vs. 2.7% prior. There’s been some risk aversion in the markets last week, so a soft report
will likely ease some of those fears around inflation and give the ECB more
confidence to keep with the policy easing. Higher than expected figures though
would likely keep the markets on the edge. The market is expecting a total of
84 bps of easing by year-end.

15:00 GMT/10:00 ET – US February ISM Manufacturing PMI

The US ISM
Manufacturing PMI is expected at 50.8 vs. 50.9 prior. The recent S&P Global
US PMIs showed another uptick on the Manufacturing front with the index rising
to an 8-month high. The agency noted that many manufacturers also reported that
the rise in production and demand was in part linked to front-running potential
cost increases or supply shortages linked to tariffs, although future sentiment
remained relatively elevated in manufacturing by recent standards.

Central bank speakers:

• 16:45 GMT/11:45 ET – Fed’s Musalem (neutral – voter)

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