European Economic News Preview: ECB Monetary Policy Announcement Due
(RTTNews) - The European Central Bank is slated to announce its monetary policy decision later today after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday.
Markets widely expect the ECB to raise the main refi rate again by 25 basis points, to 4.25 percent. The outcome of the governing council meeting held in Frankfurt is due at 8.15 am ET.
ECB Chief Christine Lagarde is likely to repeat that the interest rates are set to remain high for an extended period.
Consumer sentiment from Germany and Italy are the other major economic reports due on Thursday.
At 2.00 am ET, the market research group Gfk is scheduled to issue Germany's consumer confidence survey data. The forward-looking sentiment index is seen at -24.7 in August, up from -25.4 in July.
At 3.00 am ET, Spain's statistical office INE releases retail sales and unemployment data. Sales are expected to grow 0.6 percent annually but much weaker than the 6.0 percent rise in May. The jobless rate is forecast to fall to 13.00 percent in the second quarter from 13.26 percent in the first quarter.
At 4.00 am ET, Italy's ISTAT publishes business and consumer confidence survey results. The consumer confidence index is seen falling to 107.8 in July from 108.6 in the previous month. The business sentiment index is expected to drop to 99.8 from 100.3 a month ago.
At 6.00 am ET, the Confederation of British Industry is set to publish Distributive Trades survey results.
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