Today is a busy day as far as announcements are concerned, while the rest of the week is shaping up to be a crucial one for markets.

Europe is releasing a few pieces of data later tonight. This includes: German Import Prices, German Prelim CPI, French Consumer Spending and Spanish Flash  CPI. Import prices are important as an increase in prices paid by consumers can contribute to inflation, which is one of the measures used to determine interest rate policy. For the same reason, the CPI figures are crucial to determining monetary policy for the ECB. Consumer spending data reflects consumer sentiment and confidence within the economy. This spending also contributes to inflation.

The US is releasing a number of pieces of information in the early hours of tomorrow morning. This set of figures includes: Prelim GDP, Prelim GDP Price Index, S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI (House Price Index) and Consumer Confidence. The GDP figures are crucial as they relate to growth of the world’s largest economy. The house price data reflects the change in the selling price of homes in 20 metropolitan areas, while the Consumer Confidence figures are vital to determining consumer sentiment within the US. The more confident consumers are, the more likely they are to spend money, therefore contributing to inflation and growth. Meanwhile, two Fed Reserve (FOMC) Members are speaking – William Dudley and Jerome Powell.

Elsewhere, the UK is releasing Net Lending to individuals, M4 Money Supply and Mortgage Approvals data. Canada is releasing Current Account data while Bank of Canada (BOC) Governor Stephen Poloz is set to speak later today.