MORNING BID EUROPE-Merkel to Ankara
(Fixes headline)
* A look at the day ahead from European Economics and Politics Editor Mark John and EMEA Markets Editor Mike Dolan. The views expressed are their own.
LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who over the weekend called for better protection of the European Union's external borders, is off to Turkey today. Turkish cooperation is crucial to Merkel's efforts to cut migrants inflows into Europe from the record highs last year. Her own political future is intimately linked with the issue, with a poll last week showing her popular support at four-and-a-half-year lows and more than 80 percent of Germans doubting her government had the refugee crisis under control. She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) has a joint press conference at 1130 GMT with Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara.
MARKETS AT 0745 GMT
Although China/HK/Singapore are out on holiday for the lunar new year, the early focus remains on Beijing after weekend news that Chinese FX reserves dropped almost $100 bln last month to $2.3 bln. Although the drop was slightly less than forecast, it was the third straight month of heavy losses and at a pace that will continue to raise questions about how long they will be prepared to prop up the yuan against such heavy capital outflows. Otherwise, the fallout from Friday's U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . payrolls is mixed but the dollar is a touch firmer. Oil is a tad higher too after the Venezuelans met with Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Naimi to talk output cuts. European shares are expected to edge higher after steep losses in the previous week, with a rise in crude oil prices and some positive company earnings seen underpinning the market. European stock index futures are up 0.4 to 0.6 percent.
Upcoming events/data/ themes for market reports on Monday:
- Markets in China, HK and much of Asia are closed for large parts of the week for Chinese New Year
- Japan Jan bank lending, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) current account
- India Q3 GDP
- European corp events: Banca Popolare di Milano (Milan: PMI.MI - news) , Galp Energia, Randgold, Assa Abloy (Other OTC: ASAZY - news) , Air France KLM traffic figures
- Spanish Dec industry output
- Turkey Dec industry output
- Germany's Merkel travels to Ankara to meet Turkish government on refugees/EU talks.
- US Q4 earnings: Fox, Hasbro (NasdaqGS: HAS - news)
- Chile Jan trade, copper exports
- Argentine/Brazil markets closed Mon/Tues for Carnival (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)