Economic calendar: Speeches from Powell and other central bank chiefs

• European stock markets set for flat opening

• Powell to speak on central bank independence at 2:00 pm GMT

• Speeches from governors of Bank of Canada, Bank of England and Bank of Japan

European stock market indices are set for a more or less flat opening of today's cash session on the Old Continent. DAX futures trade more or less at the level of yesterday's cash close. This comes after a mixed Wall Street session yesterday and a mixed trading in Asia today. Risk-off moods can be spotted on the commodity market with precious metals, industrial metals and energy commodities trading lower. EUR and NZD are the best performing major currencies while JPY and GBP lag the most.

Economic calendar for the day ahead is light in terms of data releases. However, there are speeches from heads of 4 major central banks scheduled and they may offer some FX market volatility! Speech from Jerome Powell at 2:00 pm GMT will draw the most attention and the Fed Chair is set to speak on the topic of central bank independence. Apart from Powell, traders will also get to hear from BoE Bailey, BoC Macklem and BoJ Kuroda. 

3:00 pm GMT - US, wholesale inventories for November. Expected: 1.0% MoM. Previous: 0.5% MoM

9:40 pm GMT - API report on US oil inventories. Expected: -2.1 mb. Previous: +3.3 mb

Central bankers' speeches

• 10:10 am GMT - BoE Governor Bailey & BoC Governor Macklem

• 10:10 am GMT - BoJ Governor Kuroda

• 10:10 am GMT - ECB Schnabel

• 2:00 pm GMT - Fed Chair Powell

• 3:35 pm GMT - ECB De Cos & ECB Knot

• 4:30 pm GMT - ECB Centeno