Market themes of the Day: Eurozone PMIs set to stabilize after steep deceleration

What you need to know before markets open
Main themes: 

• The ECB chief economist Peter Praet said that the normalization of the central bank instruments does not mean it is a monetary policy tightening.
• The UK Prime Minister Theresa May told the UK lawmakers she has agreed on a workstream with the EU on alternative arrangements to backstop.
• The EU said to want members of British parliament s to vote on backstop changes before the European Council summit.
• The FOMC minutes revealed uncertainty was the key factor in the Fed's dovish shift, rather than a materially weaker outlook. Fed minutes were modestly less dovish on rates but more dovish on the balance sheet front and that should keep the US Dollar on the back foot.
• China’s Dalian port banned Australian coal imports with Aussie Dollar falling sharply about 1% in reaction to the news. 
• The Eurozone PMIs are in market focus for Thursday with the composite Eurozone PMI expected to pick up slightly after the steep fall. For more details read my Preview here.
• The ECB meeting minutes are due on Thursday with policy stance expected to remain unchanged after the bank ended its asset purchasing program in December and faces deceleration in economic activity.
• The US durable goods orders are set to rise 1.4% m/m in December with core durables ex-transportation up 0.3% m/m. For detail read Joseph Trevisani’s Preview here. 

Australia

• Australian labor market saw the number of new jobs rise 39.1K in January with the unemployment rate stable at 5.0%.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe is scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Economics, in Sydney.

Europe

• German producer prices increased 0.4% over the month in December while decelerating to 2.2% y/y.
• ECB chief economist Peter Praet said that the normalization of the central bank instruments does not mean it is a monetary policy tightening with ECB not necessarily taking TLTRO decision on next meeting.
• The managing director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde said the IMF is likely to downgrade German growth forecast.
• The Eurozone consumer confidence improved slightly to -7.4 in February, up 0.5 points from January.
• German inflation is expected to remain stable at 1.7% in a preliminary reading for January.
• German manufacturing PMI is expected to improve slightly to 49.9 in February while still dwelling in the contraction territory. 
• The Eurozone composite PMI is expected to remain stable at 51.1 in February. For more details read my Preview here.
• The ECB meeting minutes are due on Thursday with policy stance expected to remain unchanged after the bank ended its asset purchasing program in December and faces deceleration in economic activity.

UK 

• The Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane’s speech from November 2018 in Glasgow School of Art will be released at 12:00 GMT.
• The UK government is still working on alternative arrangements for the backstop and plan to re-open the Brexit agreement.

US

• The FOMC minutes revealed uncertainty was the key factor in the Fed's dovish shift, rather than a materially weaker outlook. Fed minutes were modestly less dovish on rates but more dovish on the balance sheet front and that should keep the US Dollar on the back foot.
• The US initial jobless claims are expected to reach 225K in the week ending February 16.
• The US durable goods orders are set to rise 1.4% m/m in December with core durables ex-transportation up 0.3% m/m. For detail read Joseph Trevisani’s Preview here. 

Canada

• The Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz will speak about monetary policy at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal at 17:35 GMT with the text of the speech released 15 minutes before the scheduled time.