A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from

Rocky Swift

The European theatre of World War II ended 80 years ago today, a

sombre reminder as armed conflict still rages on the continent

while another one threatens to ignite between nuclear powers in

South Asia.

To accommodate a moment of silence in honour of Victory in

Europe (VE) Day, the Bank of England is delaying its policy

announcement by two minutes to 1102 GMT. The BoE is expected to

continue its gradual pace of rate cuts that have come more

slowly than those by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which stood pat

yesterday in the face of inflation and recession fears.

A different sort of world war, between U.S. President Donald

Trump and practically all of America's trade partners, looked

marginally cooler ahead of ice-breaker talks between Washington

and Beijing trade tsars this weekend. Chinese blue chips

and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.75% and

1.1%, respectively, on hopes the negotiations will bring down

retaliatory tariffs of more than 100% with the U.S.

And equity futures in European and U.S. markets turned

higher after Trump posted that he will hold a press conference

today about a trade deal with a "BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED,

COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!."

This would be the first of some 200 trade deals that Trump

claims to have made but has kept mum on so far. Last week, the

president trumpeted "potential deals" with South Korea, Japan,

and India.

But the New York Times says the "big" country is Britain, a

possibility previously flagged by analysts. UK stock futures

and sterling climbed in Asia trade.

North Korea lobbed missiles into the ocean again, and

Pakistan vowed retaliation for an Indian air strike, which was

itself retaliation for an attack by Islamist militants last

month. Stock markets in Asia weathered the drama, continuing

anaemic gains seen on Wall Street after the Fed.

But steeper advances in gold and Bitcoin

signalled resilient demand for defensive assets.

Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:

- European earnings: Siemens Energy

- US earnings: Shopify ( SHOP ), ConocoPhillips ( COP ),

Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD )

- Germany trade, industrial production (March)

- BoE policy decision

- US weekly jobless claims

- $25 billion auction of US 30-year bonds

- Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks

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(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)