Europe: The Week Ahead

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By Jacob Maslow

As we enter the final stretch of 2015, there are several events to keep an eye out for in European trading this week.

Today will see Italian consumer and business sentiment data released, which could potentially send the FTSEMIB tumbling if it comes out lower than expected. We’ll also see the Spanish retail sales numbers, but this is unlikely to cause any significant market moves as the IBEX slid 170 points in yesterdays trade, most likely factoring in any surprises for the retail numbers.

Wednesday will see Spanish inflation numbers, British housing prices YoY, Swiss UBS consumption and Spanish business confidence. All of these have the potential to move their respective market indexes.

As a quick snapshot, here’s what’s expected;

Retail sales in Spain are expected to come in at 0.3% MoM.

British housing prices are expected to have picked up 3.8% YoY and 0.5% MoM. This could mean a slight rally for the FTSE if expectations are met.

However, the biggest event of the week will be the release of the ECB monetary policy meeting minutes on Wednesday. It is largely expected that the ECB will continue expanding the money supply with loan growth YoY expected to come out up 1.2%.

All in all, it is likely to be a mixed finish for European stocks without too much volatility in the major indexes.

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