European Economics Preview: Eurozone PMI Data Due

(RTTNews) - Preliminary results of the Purchasing Managers' survey and industrial new orders data from Eurozone, and the minutes of the latest monetary policy meeting from the Bank of England are the major events on Wednesday.

At 1.30 am ET, the French statistical office Insee is slated to issue consumer price figures for January. EU harmonized inflation is forecast to rise to 2.8 percent from 2.7 percent in December.

Purchasing managers' survey results from France are due at 3.00 am ET. The manufacturing PMI is seen rising to 49 in February from 48.5, while the services PMI is expected to fall to 52 from 52.3.

Thereafter, German PMI is due at 3.30 am ET. The manufacturing PMI is forecast to rise to 51.5 in February from 51 and the services PMI to climb to 53.8 from 53.7 a month ago.

Markit Economics is scheduled to release Eurozone composite PMI at 4.00 am ET. The composite PMI is seen at 50.5, up from 50.4 a month ago.

The Bank of England is set to publish the minutes of the monetary policy meeting held on February 8 and 9. At the meeting, policy makers raised the size of quantitative easing by GBP 50 billion to GBP 325 billion.

Half an hour later, Eurozone industrial new orders are due. New orders are expected to grow 0.5 percent month-on-month in December, following a 1.2 percent drop in November. Annually, orders are forecast to fall 2.8 percent.

At 5.30 am ET, German auction results are due. The government aims to raise a maximum of EUR 5 billion from the issue of Federal Treasury notes maturing on March 2014.

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