Bloomberg Business
-ECB decision: With all 53 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expecting no change to interest rates at today’s European Central Bank meeting, all eyes will be on the press conference starting at 8:30 a.m. ET where analysts will be watching for any hints about further easing. The euro dropped 0.3 percent to $1.1310 as of 10:45 a.m. in London.
-U.K. retail sales: U.K. retail sales rose 1.9 percent in September, the most since December 2013 and far ahead of the 0.4 percent increase economists had forecast in a Bloomberg survey. The pound was 0.3 percent higher at $1.5460 at 10:50 a.m. London time, having risen as much as 0.6 percent when the data was published.
-Valeant drama: Yesterday was a dramatic day for Canadian drug company Valeant. The stock plunged around 40 percent after it was accused of Enron-like accounting. Shares recovered some of their losses after the company hit back against the claims, and major holder Bill Ackman confirmed that he bought more of the stock. Based on his recent disclosures, Ackman may have lost around $2.8 billion on his Valeant holdings.
-Spanish unemployment: Unemployment in Spain fell to 21.2 percent in the third quarter, the lowest level since 2011. The data will give a boost to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s election campaign as it is the final unemployment reading ahead of the December 20 general election. Polling shows that the Spanish radical left party, Podemos, have dropped to fourth place, with new centrist party Ciudadanos rising. No party is polling high enough to form an overall majority.
-China plan to dismantle capital controls: China’s Communist Party meets for its fifth plenary session next week to discuss the nation’s economic and social plans for the next five years with leaders poised to announce a 2020 deadline to dismantle currency controls according to a person familiar with talks now under way. The removal of capital controls is a necessary step towards China’s goal of making the yuan a global currency. Overnight, the Shanghai Composite Index recovered some of Wednesday’s losses, closing 1.5 percent higher.
CNN Money
-Flood of earnings: A number of important earnings are coming through this morning from 3M (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN), McDonald’s (MCD) and Southwest Airlines (LUV). United Continental (UAL) is also reporting this morning. These are the first results since the new interim CEO took over after CEO Oscar Munoz suffered a heart attack and took a medical leave of absence. After the closing bell, AT&T (T, Tech30) will post its first results since merging with DirecTV. Google will issue its first results as Alphabet (GOOG). And the markets will hear from Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30). In Europe, the parent company for Mercedes-Benz cars — Daimler (DDAIY) — reported record sales in the third quarter and strong growth in China. Many other automakers have experienced slower sales in China as the economy slows and the government cracks down on officials who make lavish purchases.
-Market movers — eBay, Texas Instruments: Solid earnings reports on Wednesday afternoon from Texas Instruments (TXN) and eBay (EBAY) boosted their stock prices in after hours trading. Both were up nearly 10%.
-Stock market overview: U.S. stock futures are inching higher ahead of the open. But the mood could change depending on whether investors cheer or boo the latest quarterly results. European markets are mixed in early trading. Chinese stock markets closed the day with gains, but most other Asian markets took a dip.
-Economics: The European Central Bank is announcing its interest rate and monetary policy decisions at 7:45 a.m. ET. It’s highly unlikely to make any new moves but many economists think the bank will hint at printing more money in the future to combat deflation in the region. «Markets seem positioned for a dovish outcome, perhaps via rhetoric setting the stage for stimulus expansion in December,» said Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX. In the U.S., weekly jobless claims figures will come from the federal government at 8:30 a.m. ET. At 10 a.m., watch for new existing home sales data from September. The last report from the National Association of Realtors showed sales were down 4.8% in August.
-Wednesday market recap: It was a relatively calm day for U.S. stocks on Wednesday, apart from a major drop in Valeant (VRX) shares and an IPO from Ferrari (RACE). The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.3%, the S&P 500 declined 0.6% and the Nasdaq lost 0.8%.