Key Global Events

Christine Lagarde hawkish in the conference held earlier in the day yesterday. She stated how inflationary pressures remain strong and core inflation has not yet peaked. 
Investors are preparing for the central bank meeting in Frankfurt next week. Officials will meet to deliberate a possible interest rate hike.
In Italy excellent start for the BTP value, the 4-year government bond dedicated to the retail market.
On Tuesday the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised the interest rate by 25 basis points for the second consecutive month.
A downbeat start for European stock markets. Milan's FTSE MIB -0.23%, Paris' CAC -0.18%, Madrid's IBEX +0.20%, London's FTSE -0.15%. Wall Street futures trade around parity. Dow Jones -0.06%, S&P500 the -0.02% and the Nasdaq +0.02%.

Forex & Commodities

At the opening of European stock exchanges, the euro and sterling remain stable around parity against the greenback. EURUSD +0.11%, GBPUSD +0.01%. Among commodities, oil slows down after the OPEC-induced rally following production cuts trading back around $71 per barrel (-1.61%). Gold trades around 1974 $ an ounce (+0.02%).

Index

Markets in Asia were trading mixed. The benchmark index, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closes by registering +0.90% reaching the highest level since 1990 at 32,506.78. China's Hang Seng index trades at 19,063 giving up 0.24 percent. Wall Street futures trade around parity. Dow Jones -0.06%, S&P500 -0.02% and the Nasdaq +0.02%.

Global Macroeconomic Data 
UK - At 10:30 a.m. CIPS index expected down 0.1 to 51 will be released.
EUR - At 11 a.m. Euro zone retail sales will be released. On an annual basis it is expected to improve to -3.1% and on a monthly basis the forecast is growth to +0.2%.
US - At 6 p.m. the EIA will release its short-term energy forecast (STEO).