Investors await EU inflation ahead of major central banks event

Thursday is going to be a mixed day for the European open as investors wait for comments from the three main central bankers: Fed chair Jerome Powell, ECB President Christine Lagarde, and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, who will all be speaking today in Washington.

US equities moved lower after Netflix's share price collapse affected other streaming companies. The Nasdaq 100 took a beating on the heels of Netflix's big subscriber miss on Wednesday, as the company's share price finished the day 35% lower.

After falling from three-year highs on Wednesday, US 10-year Treasury yields are back on an upward trend. US bond yields are rising over expectations of the US Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hike.

Will ECB change its tone?

The comments from Lagarde will be closely examined after yesterday's comments from Latvian Governing Council member Martin Kazaks. They said that a rate rise in July is possible and tightening measures do not have to wait for wage growth. In contrast to Lagarde's ECB press conference earlier this month, those comments stand out if she doesn't rebut them.

Markets expect one more rate hike from BoE 

There is some expectation that the Bank of England will raise interest rates at its May meeting. However, the extent of the move remains uncertain, whether it will be 25bps or 50bps. Sterling traders will be looking for clues from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. Despite Bailey's comments, traders would still be wise to take precautions.

Events of today

Ahead of central bankers' speeches, the EU final CPI for March is expected to be confirmed at a record high of 7.5%. The latest flash CPI for April is due at the end of next week, which may hit 8%.

Today's US data includes jobless claims, expected to drop back to 180k from 185k. The Philadelphia Fed survey is expected to drop to 21.0 from 27.4.