European markets refused to show much signs of optimism today as investors pondered the next outcome of the continuing battle between the US President and Congress. Despite the dispute, the markets are still expecting an agreement to be reached by the 17th of October deadline. Thus, at the moment, it seems politicians are using this opportunity to try and push forward their policies before a collective agreement is established which would be required in order to avoid the US economy experiencing the full raft of a government shutdown.
Traders will also be keenly watching the ECB press conference due later today. It seems the general consensus is that benchmark interest rate will remain at 0.5%, regardless of the fact that the Eurozone is starting to show signs of an improvement. However, traders will be more focused on the post conference comments by Mario Draghi and whether the ECB president will provide more information regarding his forward thinking guidance plans.
Nevertheless, officials should be wary of constantly providing the markets with ambiguous statements regarding growth plans as this will unlikely foster support for such policies in the long-term.