Draghi to offer QE update as outlook improves across the eurozone

Mario Draghi’s speech this afternoon will likely to offer further insight into how the ECB’s sovereign purchasing programme is proceeding. Draghi is expected to underline an improvement across the EMU, with retail sales improving on the back of an improvement in employment data, as well as the depreciation in the euro.

The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, will meet with German counterpart Angela Merkel in Berlin today, as both sides seek to find a resolution that would unlock the €7.2 billion currently bring withheld from the Greek government. The meeting comes against the backdrop of remarks made by Spanish Finance Minister, Luis De Guindos, who insisted over the weekend that Greece would not receive any money from its eurozone partners until necessary reform were implemented.

Figures due later today are likely to show that the Greek current account deficit currently stands at €0.6 billion, underling the urgency of the need for Greece to secure additional funding.

Consumer confidence data for the EMU is due later today, with forecasts predicting that sentiment in the euro area is at its highest level since 2007.