Summary:

  • Eurozone inflation data to be released in the morning

  • US economy is expected to slow down in Q4 2017

  • Will DOE report provide support for oil prices after bullish API reading?

Wednesday looks especially interesting for European investors as a gauge of inflation prints from EMU economies is scheduled for release in the morning hours with the reading for the Eurozone as a whole being in the spotlight. In the afternoon second preliminary GDP reading from the US economy is expected to be released. Later on, oil traders attention will turn to DOE report to see whether it will be in line with yesterday’s API report or not.

8:55 am BST – Germany, Unemployment change for February. The condition of the German labour market has been improving in the recent months as we have not seen an increase in number of unemployed people since August 2017. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg point for a continuation of this trend with a decrease of 15k in February following a decrease of 25k seen in January. Simultaneously German unemployment rate will be published and it is expected to remain on the level of 5.4%.

10:00 am BST – Eurozone, CPI inflation for February. The European Central Bank has been conducting its ultra loose monetary policy for quite a long time. As inflation is struggling the scope of action for the European central bankers is limited. Therefore, investors will pay close attention to Eurozone’s inflation figures in order to assess whether the change in the ECB members’ attitude is possible or not. The market consensus points for a reading of 1.2% YoY for a headline reading and 1% YoY for the core gauge. One should keep in mind that this is a preliminary reading and the actual values will be published on 16th of March.

1:30 pm BST – US, GDP for Q4. US economy has been expanding at a reasonable pace recently. However, after an annualized growth of 3.2% in Q3 the world’s biggest economy is expected to slow down. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg call for a reading of 2.5%. One should keep in mind that this is a second preliminary reading with the first one missing the forecast of 3% by coming out at 2.6%.

3:30 pm BST – US, Crude Oil Inventories. A weekly government report on US oil stocks. Oil prices managed to find solid ground halting sell-off that occured after the stunning rally in the second half of 2017. Yesterday’s API report showed an increase of inventories yet it was much smaller than expected. When it comes to today’s reading market consensus points for a build of 2232.9k against a decrease of 1616k seen last week.

Central bank speakers scheduled for today:

1:00 pm BST – ECB’s Angeloni

4:00 pm BST – Riksbank’s Ingves

7:05 pm BST – Fed’s Kashkarilink do file download link

WTI managed to pare most of its recent losses. However, it still remains $5 below its January peak. Will today’s DOE report provide another boost for the oil prices? Source: xStation5