Equities continue to hold steady so far on the day

<p>Here's a snapshot of things at the moment:</p><ul><li>Eurostoxx +1.3%</li><li>Germany DAX +1.1%</li><li>France CAC 40 +1.3%</li><li>UK FTSE +0.8%</li><li>S&amp;P 500 futures +0.2%</li><li>Nasdaq futures +0.3%</li><li>Dow futures +0.2%</li></ul><p>In part, there is some element to catching up to the dip buying in Wall Street yesterday. But there is also a calmer mood among Italian stocks, in which the FTSE MIB is up 1.9% on the day after the government reassured investors that the windfall tax on bank profits would not be as painful as expected.</p><p>In any case, the calmer mood in general today is also helping with sentiment and that is setting up for a bit of a light breather before we get to the US CPI report tomorrow. That is still the main risk event this week and will be a key driver for markets in the bigger picture.</p><p>Considering the steadier mood in equities, there also isn't much for major currencies to work with as the dollar remains mostly little changed at the moment. Most dollar pairs are holding within 0.1% change as there is also a lack of appetite in the bond market so far on the session.</p>

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.