Economic calendar: OPEC+ and Powell

• European markets expected to open lower

• Oil awaits OPEC+ meeting

• Powell's speech important for equities

European stock index futures point to a lower opening of the European session. However, a big part of the overnight losses has been recovered during the second half of the Asian session. There are 2 big events scheduled for today - OPEC+ meeting and Powell's speech. There seems to be no market consensus for how much and whether OPEC+ brings back production so oil may get volatile once a decision is announced. Powell event will be an interesting one as it will be mostly Q&A session. He will probably stick to repeating that outlook remains uncertain and stimulus is still needed. However, if he continues to play spiking yields, equities may find themselves under pressure.

10:00 am GMT - Euro area, retail sales for January. Expected: -1.1% MoM. Previous: 2% MoM

1:30 pm GMT - US, jobless claims. Expected: 775k. Previous: 730k

2:00 pm GMT - OPEC+ meeting.

3:00 pm GMT - US, factory orders for January. Expected: 2.1% MoM. Previous: 1.1% MoM

5:05 pm GMT - Powell speech

US earnings

• Costco (COST.US) - after market close

• Kroger (KR.US) - before market open