Economic calendar: Slow start to the week with US traders on holiday

• European markets set to open higher

• US traders observe Martin Luther King Day

• Trading on the US futures will end sooner today

European index futures point to a higher opening of the cash session on the Old Continent today. Optimism that dominated the Asian trading session today is extending into the European morning. A point to note is that liquidity may be somewhat lower on the global markets today as traders from the United States will be off to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. US stock and bond markets will be closed today. Trading on US futures will be shortened (trading hours changes listed below.

Economic calendar for today lacks top-tier releases. Investors will be offered some data from Italy, Poland and Canada but those rarely trigger big moves on the market.

9:00 am GMT - Italy, CPI inflation for December (final). First release: 3.9% YoY 

1:00 pm GMT - Poland, core CPI inflation for December. Expected: 5.3 YoY. Previous: 4.7% YoY

1:30 pm GMT - Canada, manufacturing sales for November. Expected: 3.1% MoM. Previous: 4.3% MoM

US holiday - trading hours changes

• VOLX - trading until 4:30 pm GMT

• US100, US500, US30, US2000, TNOTE, LSGASOIL - trading until 6:00 pm GMT

• GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM, PALLADIUM - trading until 7:15 pm GMT

• GASOLINE, NATGAS, OIL.WTI - trading until 7:30 pm GMT

Top earnings this week

Tuesday

• Goldman Sachs (GS.US) 

• Bank of New York Mellon (BK.US)

Wednesday

• Bank of America (BAC.US)

• Morgan Stanley (MS.US) 

• Procter & Gamble (PG.US) 

• Unitedhealth Group (UNH.US) 

Thursday

• Netflix (NFLX.US) - Thursday

• Travelers (TRB.US) - Thursday