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

Rocky Swift

It's Switch 2 Day! The much-anticipated sequel to Nintendo's ( NTDOF )

immensely successful portable gaming unit goes on sale around

the world on Thursday. But don't bother trying to find one:

They're all sold out.

The Switch 2 is manufactured mostly in China and sold out of

Japan, so it's anybody's guess when there will be more of them

available and what they'll cost, given all the uncertainty over

tariffs and supply chains.

A United States deadline for "best offers" on trade came and

went on Wednesday without any trade announcements, and President

Donald Trump continued to stir up controversy on the global

stage with a proclamation banning nationals of 12 countries from

the U.S.

But the trade talks go on, with Japan sending its head trade

negotiator Ryosei Akazawa to the U.S. again today in search of a

deal. Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is also headed

to Washington for some face time with Trump in the Oval Office.

The main event today will be the European Central Bank's

interest rate decision, which is almost certain to cut rates by

25 basis points. The post-decision comments by President

Christine Lagarde will be all the more important for clues on

future policy moves.

Stock futures pointed to flat openings for both European and

U.S. markets.

Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:

- ECB decision, speech by Christine Lagarde

- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travels to Washington

- German data on industrial orders, consumer goods for April

- U.S. data on jobless claims for end of May, trade data for

April

- Fed's Jeffrey Schmid, Patrick Harker, Adriana Kugler to

speak

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