06.02.202505:43:00UTC+00European Economic News Preview: Bank Of England To Cut Rates

The foremost economic event scheduled for Thursday is the Bank of England's monetary policy announcement.

The Bank of England (BoE) is anticipated to reduce its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points in an effort to bolster economic growth. Market analysts widely predict that the BoE will lower the bank rate from 4.75 percent to 4.50 percent. Notably, the Bank had previously decreased the rate by 25 basis points each in August and November of last year.

In addition to the BoE's announcement, other significant economic reports on Thursday include factory orders and the construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey results from Germany.

At 1:45 AM Eastern Time, Switzerland will release its unemployment data, with forecasts indicating a potential rise in the jobless rate to 2.7 percent for January, up from 2.6 percent in December.

Subsequently, at 2:00 AM ET, Destatis will publish Germany's factory orders data. Economists anticipate a 1.9 percent monthly increase in orders for December, which would reverse the 5.4 percent decline observed in November.

Following this, at 3:30 AM ET, S&P Global will release the results of Germany's construction PMI survey.

Then at 4:30 AM ET, the UK construction PMI survey data will be made available. Economic experts predict the index to climb to 53.5 in January, up from 53.3 in the preceding month.

Finally, at 5:00 AM ET, Eurostat is set to announce euro area retail sales figures for December. Retail sales are expected to decrease by 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, counteracting the 0.1 percent increase recorded in November.