Economic calendar: Euro area GDP and mega-cap earnings

• European markets seen opening higher, silver drops

• Euro area economy expected to have contracted in Q4 2020

• Earnings reports from Amazon and Alphabet

Speculative frenzy on the silver market has eased after COMEX announced higher margins on precious metal futures trading. As a result, silver is dropping around $1 per ounce today. When it comes to macro releases, the economic calendar for today is almost empty. GDP reading for the euro area is the only noteworthy release during the day. However, investors will be offered some interesting earnings reports, especially results from Amazon and Alphabet after Wall Street session close.

9:00 am GMT - Italy, GDP report for Q4 2020. Expected: -2.2% QoQ. Previous: +15.9% QoQ 

10:00 am GMT - Euro area, GDP report for Q4 2020. Expected: -1% QoQ. Previous: +12.5% QoQ

9:40 pm GMT - API report on oil inventories. Expected: +0.8 mb

Central bankers' speeches:

• 7:00 pm GMT - Fed Mester

• 7:00 pm GMT - Fed Williams

Noteworthy US earnings releases

• Alphabet (GOOGL.US) - after market close

• Amazon (AMZN.US) - after market close

• Electronic Arts (EA.US) - after market close

• Exxon Mobil (XOM.US) - before market open

• Pfizer (PFE.US) - before market open

• United Parcel Services (UPS.US) - before market open