The US political climate remains unchanged. Today's main focus is on US inflation data as Europe's data sheet is mainly empty.

European markets are set to open lower today, with chaos in the crypto market glooming over sentiment. Investors also continue to digest quarterly earnings as well as the US midterm elections.

At 7:00 GMT, FTSE 100 futures dropped 0.3%, the CAC 40 futures over in France fell 0.4% and the DAX futures in Germany dipped 0.5%.

The US political climate remains unchanged, and control of the Senate is still hanging. Meanwhile, The Republicans edge closer to securing a majority in the House of Representatives.   

On Wednesday, Joe Biden stated that he is “prepared to work” with Republicans if they win the power to control one of both chambers of Congress.

Adding to the dampening mood is the turmoil in cryptocurrency as financial struggles at crypto exchange FTX rise. A bigger rival Binance announced that it has stepped away from a bailout after due diligence.

In Europe, data sheets are pretty empty for today, with the main focus on US inflation data later in the session. Market analysts estimate the annual rate to fall to 8%, lowest since February.

Oil continues in the red zone early hours of Thursday. A combination of a rise in US crude oil inventories and renewed Covid restrictions in China as cases soar.

Key Developments today:

• Core CPI (MoM) is due at 13:30 GMT. Forecasts of 0.5%.
• CPI (YoY) at 13:30 GMT. Forecasts of 8.0%.
• Initial Jobless Claims at 13:30 GMT. Forecasts of 220k.

Earnings:

• Tapestry is set to report earnings of $0.75 on revenue of $1.5 billion.
• Ralph Lauren is set to report an EPS of $2.07 with revenue of $1.56 billion.
• Allianz is expected to report earnings of €5.21 on revenue of €37.07 billion.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)