The Guardian: It’s all eyes on Germany and the eurozone this morning, with fresh data giving an insight into conditions in Europe’s largest economy. It will also indicate whether the European Central Bank will unleash new stimulus measures next week.
The German consumer prices index, released at 1pm BST, could show whether Europe is slipping closer to deflation. Economists predict that prices were flat month-on-month, meaning the CPI would be up just 0.8% year-on-year.
A weaker reading could give the ECB the impetus to ease monetary policy.
There’s regional data to watch out for through the morning, too, and inflation data from Spain.
Frankfurt insiders were playing down the prospect of action at next week’s meeting, unless the main eurozone inflation reading - due on Friday morning – is particularly poor.
New German unemployment data is then released at 8.55am, shortly followed by new M3 money supply data - another factor which the ECB will weigh up when deciding what to do next week.
The flurry of data continues at 10am BST, with new eurozone confidence data – that will show whether recent signs of economic weakness are spooking consumers and businesses.
This afternoon, we’ll get a reminder of how Europe is falling behind America, with the second estimate of US GDP for the second quarter of 2014 (at 1.30pm BST). The initial reading showed the US growing at an annual rate of 4.0%.
In the corporate world, there’s results from recruitment firm Hays and bookmaker Paddy Power to digest.
Investors will also be watching Greece, where the government is preparing for the next session of talks with its international lenders.
