. The yield curve inversion, which has historically preceded periods of recession, extended further having hit its lowest level since 2007 during the previous session.
Italian politics is also in focus as the Five Star Movement and the opposition Democratic Party on Wednesday announced that they would try to form a coalition government, setting aside years of animosity to avoid the snap election hoped for by Lega leader Matteo Salvini, who blew up his party's previous coalition with M5S. The agreement would see Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte return to power.
Stateside, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daily said on Thursday that she is in a "watch and see" mode on the need for further U.S. interest rate cuts from the central bank. Meanwhile the Trump administration has made official its additional 5% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese imports, setting collection dates of September 1 and December 15 and prompting hundreds of U.S. retail, footwear, toy and technology companies to warn of price hikes.
On the data front, a raft of euro zone economic data is due at 10 a.m. London time, preceded by German import price and unemployment figures, Spanish inflation data and Italian industrial orders.
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