Mario Draghi’s speech in focus as the Euro posts a mild recovery!

Today’s Economic Data:

Later:

The Asian markets opened on a mixed note with the Yen leading the gains early on led by mild risk aversion sentiment in the markets. The Aussie continued to post declines sharply across the board, falling over -0.54% at the time of writing led by the losses in the commodity sector. There were no major data releases from the Asian session. The equity markets were trading in the red with the Nikkei down -1.9%, while the Shanghai and the Hang Seng indices were down -2.16% and -2.26% respectively. China’s flash manufacturing PMI was weaker, falling to 47 from 47.3 last month further adding to the risk aversion in the markets.

The European trading session got underway with the focus on the flash services and manufacturing PMI. Overall, the Eurozone composite manufacturing PMI was soft at 52, while the services PMI was at 54, below estimates of 54.1. The Euro, which posted strong declines the first part of the week saw a mild recovery underway as the single currency managed to gain over 0.19% for the day to test the session highs of 1.1174 before easing back lower.

The British Pound was the weakest currency of the day however, losing -0.63% for the day as the Cable collapsed since the start opening near 1.5363. The Cable was seen trading near 10-day low at 1.526. There were no data releases from the UK today. The European equity markets were trading higher today with the German DAX gaining 1.02% for the day and the FTSE100 was up 1.93%.