Economic calendar: Second-tier data from US and Europe, oil inventories report

• European indices set for higher opening
• Spanish retail sales, US jobless claims
• US oil and natural gas inventories reports

European index futures point to a slightly higher opening of today's cash session on the Old Continent. This comes after small gains were booked on Wall Street yesterday and after indices from Asia-Pacific traded higher during the session earlier today. JPY is the best performing major currency while USD lag the most.

Economic calendar for today is light but includes some interesting releases. EUR may see some moves when Spanish retail sales reading is released at 8:00 am GMT. However, things get more interesting in the afternoon with release of US jobless claims and trade balance reports. Energy traders will focus on oil and natural gas inventory data from the United States.

8:00 am GMT - Spain, retail sales for November. Expected: 3.9% YoY. Previous: 5.0% YoY

1:30 pm GMT - US, jobless claims data.

• Initial jobless claims. Expected: 211k. Previous: 205k
• Continued jobless claims. Expected: 1875k. Previous: 1865k

1:30 pm GMT - US, trade balance for November. Expected: -$88.4 billion. Previous: -$89.6 billion

3:00 pm GMT - US, pending home sales for November. Expected: 1.0% MoM. Previous: -1.5% MoM

3:30 pm GMT - EIA natural gas storage report. Expected: -80 bcf. Previous: -87 bcf

4:00 pm GMT - DOE report on US oil inventories.

• Oil inventories. Expected: -2.5 mb (API: +1.84 mb)
• Gasoline inventories. Expected: +0.2 mb
• Distillate inventories. Expected: +0.6 mb