Asian session: The euro held a seven-day gain

00:00 Australia Consumer Inflation Expectation December +1.9% +2.1%

00:10 New Zealand RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler Speaks

00:30 Australia Unemployment rate November 5.7% 5.8% 5.8%

00:30 Australia Changing the number of employed November 1.1 10.3 21.0

The euro held a seven-day gain against the dollar that matched its longest rally since April 2011, before European Central Bank President Mario Draghi speaks in the European Union parliament today. President Draghi will speak in the European Parliament today, two days after he said it’s now “crucial” for “other actors” to complement the central bank’s monetary policy actions by carrying out changes at the regional and national level to enable a sustainable recovery. “The ECB, like all central banks, should not try to do what they cannot do and one of these is to supplement governments for structural reform action or repair broken banking systems,” he said in Rome.

The shared currency traded near a six-week high with data due today forecast to show a rebound in euro-area industrial production. Industrial production in the euro area probably grew 0.3 percent in October from the prior month, when it fell 0.5 percent, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey before the European Union’s statistics office releases the data today.

The greenback snapped a two-day decline against the yen as investors weigh U.S. economic reports ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

Australia’s dollar fell after unemployment rose to match the highest level since 2009. In Australia, the unemployment rate climbed to 5.8 percent in November from 5.7 percent a month earlier, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today. That matches the highest level since June 2009. The total number of people employed rose by 21,000, beating economists’ estimates for a 10,000 increase.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair is trading around $ 1.3785

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.6350

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair rose to Y102.75

There is a full calendar Thursday on both sides of the Atlantic, with both data and central bank speakers on the agenda. The calendar gets underway at 0745GMT, with the release of the November HICP data. At 0800GMT, ECB President Mario Draghi participates a in debate on the ECB's Annual Report, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The SNB announces its latest interest rate decision, along with updated economic forecasts, at 0830GMT. There is further data on the calendar at 0900GMT, when both the ECB monthly report and the Italian November final HICP numbers will be published. The ECB's monthly report is expected to mirror the statement read by Mario Draghi at the December press conference. At 1000GMT, the EMU October industrial output data will be published. At the same time, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen will hold a press conference on the economic outlook, in Helsinki. At 1415GMT, ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen will deliver a press conference on the EU/ESCB cooperation project with the National Bank of Serbia, in Belgrade.