Economic calendar: FOMC meeting, Facebook earnings

• European markets expected to open flat

• FOMC to announce monetary policy decision at 7:00 pm BST

• Facebook, Boeing and Pfizer among today's earnings reporters

Futures markets point to a flat opening of the European cash session today, following a rather calm Asian session. While indices from Asia-Pacific moved lower today, declines were not as steep as they were in previous days. 

Key event of the day, and the week as well, is FOMC monetary policy decision scheduled for 7:00 pm BST. Rates as well as size of QE programmes are expected to remain unchanged. However, investors will look for hints on FOMC outlook amid pick-up in new Covid cases. Moreover, Powell is likely to be asked about any potential taper discussion during a press conference at 7:30 pm BST.

When it comes to earnings, the day ahead will be a busy one. Investors will be offered results from numerous US companies, including Facebook, Boeing, Pfizer and McDonald's.

1:30 pm BST - US, wholesale inventories for June. Expected: 1.1% MoM. Previous: 1.3% MoM

1:30 pm BST - Canada, CPI inflation for June. Expected: 3.2% YoY. Previous: 3.6% YoY

3:30 pm BST - DOE report on oil inventories.

• Oil inventories. Expected: -3.3 mb. Previous: 2.11 mb

• Gasoline inventories. Expected: -0.4 mb. Previous: -0.12 mb

• Distillate inventories. Expected: 0.2 mb. Previous: -1.35 mb

7:00 pm BST - FOMC decision

US earnings releases

• Automatic Data Processing (ADP.US) - before market open

• Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.US) - before market open

• Boeing (BA.US) - before market open

• Facebook (FB.US) - after market close

• Ford Motor (F.US) - after market close

• Humana (HUM.US) - before market open

• McDonald's (MCD.US) - before market open

• PayPal Holdings (PYPL.US) - after market close

• Pfizer (PFE.US) - before market open

• Qualcomm (QCOM.US) - after market close

• Shopify (SHOP.US) - before market open

• Spotify Technology (SPOT.US) - before market open

• Tilray (TLRY.US) - before market open