Economic calendar: US retail sales and PPI in the spotlight

• European indices set for flat opening

• US retail sales data expected to show a small drop in February

• Second-tier data from EMU and Canada

Futures markets point to a flat or slightly lower opening for major blue chips indices from Europe. DAX futures currently trade around 10 points below yesterday's cash close. Economic calendar for the day ahead includes some top-tier US releases. 

Retail sales report for February will draw the most attention and the report is expected to show a small drop following a big jump in January. Simultaneously to the retail sales print, US PPI data for February will be released. However, as we have already seen February's CPI print yesterday, today's PPI release is unlikely to have a major impact on the markets. Oil traders will focus on the official US report on oil inventories after the API report yesterday pointed to a bigger-than-expected build.

Apart from US data, traders will also be served Canadian housing market data and European industrial production but neither of those two reports tends to trigger big moves on the markets.

9:00 am GMT - Poland, CPI inflation for February. Expected: 18.6% YoY. Previous: 17.2% YoY

10:00 am GMT - Euro area, industrial production for January. Expected: 0.5% MoM. Previous: -1.1% MoM

12:15 pm GMT - Canada, housing starts for February. Expected: 225.0k. Previous: 215.4k

12:30 pm GMT - US, New York Empire State index for March. Expected: -7.9. Previous: -5.8

12:30 pm GMT - US, retail sales for February.

• Headline. Expected: -0.3% MoM. Previous: +3.0% MoM

• Ex-autos. Expected: -0.1% MoM. Previous: +2.3% MoM

12:30 pm GMT - US, PPI inflation for February.

• Headline. Expected: 5.4% YoY. Previous: 6.0% YoY

• Core. Expected: 5.2% YoY. Previous: 5.4% YoY

2:00 pm GMT - US, business inventories for January. Expected: 0.1% MoM. Previous: 0.3% MoM

2:30 pm GMT - DOE report on US oil inventories.

• Oil inventories. Expected: +0.6 mb (API: +1.15 mb)

• Gasoline inventories. Expected: -2.0 mb (API: -4.59 mb)

• Distillate inventories. Expected: -1.1 mb (API: -2.89 mb)