We expect the Fed to cut its monthly bond purchases by an additional USD10bn in connection with today's meeting, and hence stick to its unofficial plan for tapering, see FOMC preview: On autopilot for now - tapering USD10bn per meeting with strong forward guidance. Any changes to the statement (description of the economy and forward guidance) should be in focus.
Financial markets continue to keep an eye on emerging markets and there could be some focus on the announcement of the interest rate decision from the South African central bank. Still, the South African central bank is not expected to hike today, despite the 'success' Turkey and India had with hiking interest rates yesterday.
In the data calendar the main release is December money supply and credit growth for the euro area. It will be interesting to see if continued subdued credit growth could be another argument for further easing from ECB. Bank of England governor Mark Carney is scheduled to speak at 14:15 CET.
Norwegian unemployment report and Swedish household lending and inflation expectations are due.