Economic calendar: speeches from ECB and FED bankers in the spotlight

• European indices open lower on the second day of the week
• Data from the US housing market
• Speeches by central bankers in the spotlight

Today, on the second day of the week, indices in Europe open slightly lower. The German DAX is down by 0.4% to 16,290 points. At 07:00 am BST in the morning investors already got familiar with the German PPI data for May, which came below expectations.

In the early part of today, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) were also released. The minutes revealed that the recent rate hike decision was finely balanced. The current policy level is already sufficiently restrictive, reducing the chances of another rate hike in July. Shortly before the minutes, the People's Bank of China made a decision to lower interest rates by 0.10%, bringing the one-year benchmark rate to 3.55% from the previous 3.65%. As a result, Chinese indices and the Australian dollar declined due to the rate cut being smaller than expected.

Detailed schedule for the day:

01:30 pm BST, USA - Housing Market Data:

• Building Permits: Expected: 1,425k, Previous: 1,417k
• Housing Starts: Expected: 1,400k, Previous: 1,401k

Central bank speeches:

• 11:30 am BST - Bullard, FED Member
• 12:45 am BST - McCaul, ECB Member
• 02:45 pm BST - McCaul again, ECB Member
• 04:45 pm BST - Williams, FED Member
• 06:10 pm BST - De Guindos, ECB Member