A reasonably quiet Thursday in terms of quantity of announcements, but one that is dominated by an important monetary policy decision from Europe.

The ECB meets later tonight to decide interest rate policy for the EU. This has ramifications for the European economy. Is the EU economy strong enough to withstand a lift in interest rates? Is the economic data strong enough to warrant a rate increase? Will the ECB ‘play it safe’ and leave interest rates on hold? There are some sections of Europe that believe monetary policy is too generous and needs to be tightened. The ECB has been reluctant to move on tightening monetary policy in the past, so they could once again take a conservative approach. An increase in interest rates is a sign of a strengthening economy. As there is a lot of economic and political uncertainty around the world, the ECB may err on the side of caution as a buffer to combat this uncertainty. 45 minutes after the interest rate announcement, ECB President, Mario Draghi, is set to front a press conference to outline the basis of their decision and also the outlook for interest rates going into the future.

Elsewhere around the world, Japan is releasing Machine Tool Orders data, Europe is publishing French Final Non-Farm Payrolls & Swiss Unemployment Rate figures, the US is reporting Challenger Job Cuts, Unemployment Claims, Import Prices and Natural Gas Storage data. Finally, Canada is releasing NHPI (New Housing Price Index) and Capacity Utilisation Rate figures.