Economic calendar: US durable goods orders and Conference Board index

• European indices set to open flat or slightly higher
• US Conference Board consumer confidence data
• Spanish GDP revision, US durable goods orders

European index futures point to a flat or higher opening for the major blue chips indices from the Old Continent. This comes after a rather uneventful Asia-Pacific session, that saw light news flow as well as mixed performance of regional indices. Cryptocurrencies continue to gain, with Bitcoin remaining above $70,000. NZD and GBP are the best performing major currencies, while CHF and USD lag the most.

News flow is expected to remain light today, with very light economic calendar scheduled. Traders will be offered revised Spanish GDP data for Q4 2023 as well as US durable goods orders report for February. Some additional USD volatility may be present around 2:00 pm GMT when Conference Board consumer confidence index for March is released.

8:00 am GMT - Spain, GDP report for Q4 2023 (revision).

• Quarterly. First release: 0.6% QoQ. Previous: 0.3% QoQ
• Annual. First release: 2.0% YoY. Previous: 1.8% YoY

12:30 pm GMT - US, durable goods orders for February.

• Headline. Expected: +1.2% MoM. Previous: -6.2% MoM
• Ex-transport. Expected: +0.4% MoM. Previous: -0.4% MoM

2:00 pm GMT - US, Richmond Fed index for March. Expected: -5.0. Previous: -5.0

2:00 pm GMT - US, Conference Board consumer confidence for March. Expected: 106.9. Previous: 106.7

8:40 pm GMT - API report on oil inventories

Central bankers' speeches

• 9:00 am GMT - BoE Mann
• 12:15 pm GMT - BoC Rogers
• 6:30 pm GMT - ECB Lane