Economic calendar: Lockdowns and politics weight on sentiment

• European markets set to open lower

• Delay to US infrastructure bill hits sentiment

• Netherlands announces 3-week Christmas lockdown

European index futures point to big bearish price gaps for major indices from the region at the opening of today's cash session. Moods deteriorated after Senator Manchin said that he cannot support Biden's 'Build Back Better' infrastructure deal and talks are now expected to extend into 2022. Apart from that, the Netherlands announced a 3-week Christmas lockdown, what may also weigh on sentiment. On the other hand, authorities from Germany or the United Kingdom have strongly refuted the idea of imposing more strict restrictions during Christmas. Elsewhere, Turkish lira continues to plunge with USDTRY jumping above 17.50.

Economic calendar for today is empty with no key data releases scheduled. While the whole pre-Christmas week will see much smaller number of economic releases, there are some noteworthy data prints scheduled the later part of the week.

Releases scheduled for today

9:00 am GMT - Poland, industrial production for November. Expected: 8.5% YoY. Previous: 7.8% YoY

Key releases scheduled for the later part of the week

• Tuesday, 0:30 am GMT - RBA minutes

• Tuesday, 1:30 pm GMT - Canada, retail sales for October

• Thursday, 1:30 pm GMT - US, PCE inflation for November