Market movers today
The first ECB accounts (minutes) are published today, covering the 22 January meeting where the ECB announced its QE programme. Based on president Mario Draghi's comments during the press conference, it will contain information about whether the decisions were unanimous, based on a majority or reached by consensus. We do not expect names to be mentioned in relation to this. As the decision was described during the press conference, today's release should not yield much new information but it is likely to cast more light on the QE discussion.
Euro area consumer confidence is expected to continue to improve in February as consumers' purchasing power has increased due to the oil price decline. As in January, consumers could also report an improvement in expectations for future unemployment and the overall economic situation.
US initial jobless claims are also due for release and will give more information about the latest developments in the labour market. Following the strong job report in January, market focus is on the labour market and wages in particular.
Pressure on EUR/DKK remains on the downside and despite Danmarks Nationalbank (DN) surprising the market last week by keeping its key policy rate unchanged at minus 0.75%, there is still speculation about further rate cuts. One could be announced today at 16:00 CET, although we see the most likely scenario as one in which DN does not cut its key policy rate further, but fends off DKK appreciation pressure through FX intervention.
To Read the Entire Report Please Click on the pdf File Below