Economic calendar: US PPI data, Brainard in Senate

• European indices expected to open a touch lower

• Lael Brainard to appear in US Senate today

• US PPI data for December

European futures traded sideways during the Asian session but some weakness surfaced as the European open drew closer. Blue chips indices from the Old Continent are now expected to open a touch lower with DAX futures trading below 16,000 pts mark. Overall trading ranges on the markets - equity, commodity and FX - are rather small.

Economic calendar for the day ahead is light. Investors will be offered US PPI inflation report for December as well as weekly jobless claims print. While neither of those is expected to trigger bigger moves on the markets, an event scheduled for 3:00 pm GMT may result in elevated volatility. Lael Brainard will appear before the Senate Committee for confirmation hearings (Brainard was nominated for Fed Vice Chair job). According to the released text of speech, Brainard will stress that inflation is high and bringing it back towards the goal is an important task.

9:00 am GMT - Italy, industrial production for November. Expected: 0.5% MoM. Previous: -0.6% MoM

1:30 pm GMT - US, PPI inflation for December.

• Headline. Expected: 9.8% YoY. Previous: 9.6% YoY

• Core. Expected: 8.0% YoY. Previous: 7.7% YoY

1:30 pm GMT - US, jobless claims. Expected: 200k. Previous: 207k

3:00 pm GMT - Lael Brainard confirmation hearing in Senate

Central bankers' speeches

• 10:30 am GMT - ECB de Guindos

• 1:00 pm GMT - Fed Harker

• 6:00 pm GMT - Fed Evans

Wall Street earnings

• Delta Air Lines (DAL.US) - before market open

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM.US) - before market open