Market update: Mixed performance across asset classes with all eyes on the ECB today

Wednesday’s trading session on Wall Street ended on a relatively flat note with major indices barely changed (Dow Jones and S&P 500 both up 0.1%, Nasdaq down 0.1%). The stock rally since the start of the year is seemingly beginning to lose momentum after the recent flows into equities in January, and with Q4 earnings reports season nearing an end. Better-than-expected earnings reports were overshadowed by concerns over Europe ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers' meeting today. Transportation and technology shares lost the most ground.

Little surprise then that Asian markets closed broadly weaker overnight, as investors remained cautious ahead of the ECB meeting today. The Nikkei 225 pared 0.9% while the Shanghai Composite trimmed 0.7%; the latter partly on warnings from Beijing of inflationary pressures. This morning in Europe, it looks like investors are unwilling to take a bold stance in any direction and performance across the asset classes are mixed (FTSE Eurofirst 300 +0.2%, FTSE 100 +0.1% at the time of writing). Both the ECB and the Bank of England hold rate setting meetings today; while neither is expected to change policy the highlight of the day would be ECB president Mario Draghi’s press conference at 1:30pm London time.