Economic calendar: ECB decision and US retail sales

• European markets seen opening lower

• ECB expected to stay on hold today

• US retail sales seen increasing in June

European stock markets are seen opening slightly lower on Thursday following a downbeat Asian session. Q2 GDP and June's production data from China turned out to be better than markets expected. However, a miss in retail sales underscores that it is easier to bring back production than demand. ECB meeting and US retail sales are top tier events scheduled for today.

Reading and events scheduled for today:

8:45 am  BST - France, CPI inflation for June (final). Preliminary release:  0.1% YoY

12:45 pm BST - ECB rate decision. European Central Bank boosted purchases under the PEPP scheme during last month's meeting and it is widely expected to stay on hold today. No change is expected to the level of rates or asset purchases. However, elevated volatility may be present during Christine Lagarde's presser at 1:30 pm BST. Questions about the EU recovery fund may be asked but one should not expect any significant response from ECB chief (EU recovery fund discussions will take place this weekend).

1:00 pm BST - Poland, core CPI inflation for June. Expected: 4.1% YoY. Previous: 3.8% YoY

1:30 pm BST - US, initial jobless claims. Expected: 1250k. Previous: 1314k

1:30 pm BST - US, retail sales for June.

• Headline. Expected: +5% MoM. Previous: +17.7% MoM

• Ex-autos and fuel. Expected: +5% MoM. Previous: +12.4% MoM

Noteworthy US earnings releases:

• Abbott Laboratories (ABT.US) - before market open

• Bank of America (BAC.US) - before market open

• Domino's Pizza (DPZ.US) - before market open

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US) - before market open

• Morgan Stanley (MS.US) - before market open

• Netflix (NFLX.US) - after market close