Economic calendar: Conference Board index, earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft

• European indices launch session higher

• Earnings reports from Alphabet and Microsoft

• Conference Board index for October due at 3:00 pm BST

European indices launched today's cash session slightly higher, following a rather upbeat Asia-Pacific session. Oil is trading around 0.5% lower at press time while precious metals trade mixed. Lack of common direction can also be seen across the cryptocurrency market. Trading ranges on major FX pairs are narrow with AUD and NZD being top performers, and CHF and EUR being top laggards.

Economic calendar for today is light with only some European and US survey data scheduled for release. German IFO index for October at 9:00 am BST is a key release of the European morning session while attention in the afternoon will be on US Conference Board reading for October. However, the most important for markets is that today marks the beginning of a 3-day marathon of US mega-tech earnings releases. Traders will be offered reports from Alphabet and Microsoft today after close of the Wall Street session

9:00 am BST - Germany, IFO index for October. Expected: 83.2. Previous: 84.3

9:00 am BST - Poland, unemployment rate for September. Expected: 4.8%. Previous: 4.8%

3:00 pm BST - US, Richmond Fed manufacturing index for October. Expected: -5.0. Previous: 0.0

3:00 pm BST - US, Conference Board consumer confidence index for October. Expected: 106.5. Previous: 108.0

9:40 pm BST - API report on oil inventories. Expected: -1.00 mb. Previous: -1.27 mb

Central bankers' speeches

• 6:55 pm BST - Fed Waller

Top US earnings reports

• General Electric (GE.US) - before market open

• General Motors (GM.US) - before market open

• 3M (MMM.US) - before market open

• United Parcel Service (UPS.US) - before market open

• Coca-Cola Company (KO.US) - before market open

• Raytheon Technologies (RTX.US) - before market open

• Visa (V.US) - after market close

• Alphabet (GOOGL.US) - after market close

• Microsoft (MSFT.US) - after market close