Thursday preview: ECB, BoE, Mulberry, Ashtead

In focus on Thursday will be the interest rate decisions from both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE). With the BoE expected to freeze rates at 0.5% and leave its stimulus plans unchanged, an announcement by the ECB will likely take centre-stage given the severity of the current crisis in Europe, particularly as markets look ahead to the EU summit on Thursday evening.

In focus on Thursday will be the interest rate decisions from both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE). With the BoE expected to freeze rates at 0.5% and leave its stimulus plans unchanged, an announcement by the ECB will likely take centre-stage given the severity of the current crisis in Europe, particularly as markets look ahead to the EU summit on Thursday evening.

Following Mario Draghi's debut as ECB President last month in which he lowered rates from 1.5% to 1.25%, markets are generally expecting a further 25 percentage point cut to 1%, back to the level which was held from May 2009 to April 2011. According to Bloomberg on Wednesday, the bank may be drawing up plans to introduce a range of measure to stimulate bank lending.

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