There are a couple of noteworthy events on the economic calendar today. First of all, Germany published its final GDP growth reports for the fourth quarter of 2020, which were better than expected, although still in negative territory (in the YoY report). Meanwhile, business confidence in France was slightly lower than expected.
Today the testimony of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before the United States Congress continues for the second and final day. Aside from that, there will be speeches by other notable members of the Federal Reserve, as well as a word from the Bank of England in the United Kingdom.
Powell is expected to confirm that the economy of the United States is not properly recovered yet, despite recent upticks in inflation. The Federal Reserve has forecasted that it might not need to hike the interest rate at least until 2023 based on the current state of the labor market and inflation rate.
The continued promise of a soft approach to monetary policy, even in the face of improving economic fundamentals, is weakening the US dollar at the moment.
US stock indices are going to be making a modest recovery from yesterday’s losses today. Companies to watch out for today include Nvidia and Booking.com, which will both report on their most recent earnings.
Meanwhile, Chinese stocks were on the losing end earlier today due to the introduction of a new transaction tax in Hong Kong, which will make the city even less attractive to investors than last year’s developments have made it.
Something else to keep an eye on today is the weekly publication by the Energy Information Administration in the United States, which is going to report on the current supply of crude oil in the US for the first time since last week’s weather-related interruptions of oil processing in Texas.
The price of the Brent crude has increased to $65, while the WTI has climbed to $62.09 per barrel.
