European equity markets are expected to see little movement ahead of the ECB's announcements. The Eurostoxx opens 50 3,585.24 points (-0.06%), the CAC 40 at 6,184.66 points (-0.27%), the DAX 40 at 13,281.98 points (-0.20%), the FTSE 100 at 7.264.31 points (-0.44%), the SMI at 11,059.49 points (-0.56%), the AEX at 694.41 points (+0.72%), the BEL 20 at 3.773.90 points (-0.43%), IBEX 35 at 8,028.90 points (-1.18%), DJIA at 31,874.84 points (+0.15%), Nasdaq at 11,897.65 points (+1.58%), S&P 500 3,959.90 points (+0.59%), Nikkei 225 at 27,734.51 points (+0.20%).

The change from the close in New York shows EUR/USD opening at 1.0218 (+0.33%), EUR/JPY at 141.23 (+0.30%) and USD/JPY at 138.22 (-0.04%).

The results season accelerates today in France, with the publication of sales figures.

Valneva announced that the European Commission has placed an order for 1.25 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine for 2022, following negotiations after Brussels' decision to terminate its initial purchase agreement with the pharmaceutical company.

European stock markets are expected to waver today, with the CAC 40 futures contract down 4.2 points, or 0.1%, at 7:40 a.m., according to data from broker IG Markets. The DAX 40 contract was down 7.5 points, or 0.1%, and the FTSE 100 contract was up 4.5 points, or 0.1%.

In Italy, Mario Draghi is likely to tender his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella even though he won the vote of confidence held in the Senate on Wednesday, which would put an end to the government of national unity in place for nearly a year and a half.

In addition, the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which supplies Western Europe with Russian gas, was restarted on Thursday after a ten-day maintenance period. European countries feared that Russian President Vladimir Putin would decide not to reopen it after this period.

In the United States, Wall Street ended up yesterday, following a second session of progress thanks to the technology sector, which benefited from a renewed appetite for risk after the good results of Netflix. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 0.2% and the broader S&P 500 index advanced 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite, rich in growth stocks, rose 1.6%.

Asian stock markets were mixed on Thursday. The Nikkei index gained 0.2% in late trading.

The Japanese central bank kept the short-term deposit rate at -0.1% and the target yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds around zero.

The Hang Seng Index lost 0.8% in Hong Kong, affected by likely profit taking, according to KGI Research. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.5 percent.

U.S. Treasury yields retreated on Thursday morning, as demand for sovereign debt securities remained strong.

The euro is rising against the dollar, but the rebound could be short-lived if the ECB's new anti-fragmentation tool disappoints investors and/or the deposit rate is raised by just 25 basis points, say analysts at CBA Bank.

Oil futures continue their decline Thursday. At 7:30 a.m., the September contract for North Sea Brent crude was down 92 cents at $106 a barrel. The Nymex-listed light sweet crude (WTI) contract for the same time frame was down $1.04 at $98.84 a barrel.