Economic calendar: Virus situation in focus

• European markets set to open higher
• BoE's Broadbent speech
• Second-tier data from US and Europe

Futures markets point to a slightly higher opening of today's cash trading session in Europe as indexes try to recover from the recent Omicron triggered sell-off. Economic calendar is rather empty today, at least when it comes to macro releases. The German and UK construction PMI's will be released in the morning but they rarely have a major impact on the market. Speech from BoE's Broadbent may provide some short-term volatility for the GBPUSD pair. Since there is barely any data scheduled for release today therefore political as well as coronavirus-related headlines are expected to be drivers of today's trading. Omicron variant spread to about one-third of US states, though there were reports from South Africa that cases there only had mild symptoms. Further news regarding effectiveness of current vaccines or plans to contain the spread may also influence markets.

08:30 am GMT - German November construction PMI. Previous: 47.7

09:30 am GMT - UK November construction PMI. Expected: 52.0. Previous: 54.6

09:30 am GMT - Eurozone December Sentix investor confidence. Expected: 15.9. Previous: 18.3

Central bankers' speeches:

• 11:30 am GMT - BoE Broadbent