Wednesday preview: Mario Draghi, UK CPI in focus
All eyes on Wednesday will be on a speech by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that may set the stage for early elections in the euro area's third-largest economy.
The speech before Italy's Senate will be followed by a debate on the back of which Draghi will either decide to remain or to step down.
Draghi had already tabled his resignation, after the far-left 5M movement blocked legislation, demanding that the reformist PM consider some of its initiatives, including a minimum wage.
But Italian President Sergio Mattarella had asked Draghi to reconsider and attempt to form a government without 5M.
Political instability in Italy is widely considered as a potentially significant negative factor for both Italy and the wider euro area.
Against that backdrop, at 0700 BST the UK's Office for National Statistics will publish its Consumer Price Index data for June.
Consensus is for the the annual rate of increase in harmonised CPI to edge up from 7.9% for May to 8.1% in June.
Stateside meanwhile, investors will be waiting on existing home sales figures for the month of June.
Further afield, in Beijing, rate-setters will meet to decide on interest rates.
For Tesla's third quarter, the analyst consensus is for second quarter earnings per share of $1.81.
Nevertheless, what most matters to investors is whether or not the electric-vehicle maker will be able to hit its target for production of 1.3m vehicles in 2022, says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
The recent opening of its German plant is a plus, but a chain of sporadic lockdowns in China has hampered output in the Asian giant with July production already expected to be disrupted by maintenance shutdowns both in Shanghai and Berlin.
All of the above was coming on top of rising costs and chip shortages.
Wednesday 20 July
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