Overnight

In the overnight session both the BOE and ECB kept rates unchanged, but there were some surprises. The Bank of England essentially announced it is halting its QE program due to perceived ineffectiveness, the ECB is in no hurry to activate the OMT Bond Buying program.

Furthermore, Spain seems to be in no hurry to request a bailout this year, sending Spanish Yields higher and the EUR/USD to 2- month lows.

Greece hit a new high in their unemployment rate at 25.4%.

In the US Initial Claims came in at 355k on consensus of 365k with Hurricane Sandy being blamed, keeping people from reaching the unemployment office.

ES stayed in a fairly narrow range all night and is oscillating around a few points above or below yesterday's 4 p.m. close at $1390.50.

There really doesn't seem to be any real trend in underlying action.

Finally the Draghi Press Conference has been widely anticipated this morning...

• *DRAGHI SAYS EURO AREA GROWTH MOMENTUM WILL STAY WEAK INTO 2013
• *DRAGHI SAYS EURO AREA GROWTH RISKS REMAIN `ON THE DOWNSIDE'
• *DRAGHI SAYS INDICATORS DON'T SIGNAL ECONOMIC IMPROVMENT
• *DRAGHI SAYS INFLATION RISKS `CONTINUE TO BE BROADLY BALANCED'
• *DRAGHI SAYS ECB COMMITTED TO REPAIR TRANSMISSION MECHANISM
• *DRAGHI SAYS FINANCIAL MARKET CONFIDENCE HAS VISIBLY IMPROVED
• *DRAGHI: OBSERVED STRENGTHENING OF DEPOSITS IN SOME COUNTRIES
• *DRAGHI SAYS SEGMENTATION IN SOME MARKETS RESTRICT CREDIT SUPPLY