European stocks are trading higher in early trading after yesterday's disappointing preliminary data on manufacturing and service sector activity in France and Germany and the Eurozone fuelled expectations for further easing measures by the European Central Bank. Markets are awaiting the speeches of ECB president Mario Draghi who just finished and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann at the European banking congress at Frankfurt starting at 08:00 GMT. Draghi stated that interest rates have reached a low but the ECB will do what is necessary to meet inflation targets. Size, pace and composition of the economic stimulus can be adjusted. At the moment there are no indications that economic growth will increase significantly.

The FTSE 100 index is currently trading higher at +0.40% at 6,705.86 points, Germany's DAX 30 is up +0.76% trading at 9,556.51 points and France's CAC 40 gained +0.62% currently quoted at 4,260.30 points. Markets found support in strong U.S. data published yesterday and rising Asian indices.