The European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement, along with preliminary GDP figures from key eurozone economies, is anticipated on Thursday, marking a busy day for European economic developments.
Early in the morning, at 1:30 a.m. ET, France's national statistics office, INSEE, will release initial GDP and consumer spending figures. The French economy is projected to remain stagnant in the fourth quarter, following a 0.4% growth in the previous quarter.
Germany's federal statistics office, Destatis, will publish December's import price data at 2:00 a.m. ET. Analysts predict a more substantial annual increase of 1.9% in import prices, compared to a 0.6% rise in November.
Spain is due to release preliminary inflation data at 3:00 a.m. ET, with January's consumer price inflation expected to reach 2.9%, slightly up from 2.8% in December.
At 4:00 a.m. ET, Germany's flash GDP figures for the fourth quarter are scheduled. The eurozone's largest economy is anticipated to contract by 0.1% from the previous quarter, reversing a 0.1% growth.
Furthermore, at 4:30 a.m. ET, the Bank of England will report December's UK mortgage approvals, which are forecasted to slightly decline to 65,000 from November's 65,720.
Eurozone GDP data will be unveiled at 5:00 a.m. ET, with the region's growth projected to slow to 0.1% in the fourth quarter versus a 0.4% increase in the third quarter. Concurrently, the European Commission will release the eurozone economic sentiment survey results, predicting the economic confidence index to improve to 94.1 in January, up from December's 93.7.
Later, at 8:15 a.m. ET, the ECB will announce the outcome of its governing council meeting in Frankfurt. It is widely expected that the ECB will lower the deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.75%, following previous reductions of 25 basis points in both October and September last year.
The market will be attentive to ECB President Christine Lagarde's press conference at 8:45 a.m. ET for further insights into the anticipated trajectory of interest rates.
