EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING FROM DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
AMERICAN MARKETS OUTLOOK: U.S. stocks are called to open higher Friday, in line with US futures, as investors focus on upbeat earnings from Google, said David Morrison at GFT. Google's share price soared 6% in after-hours trading and this helped to lift all the major US indexes. "This is welcome news to investors following an inauspicious start to the third-quarter earnings season which saw Alcoa and JPMorgan disappoint," he said. Still, there is some bad news around, including S&P's downgrade of Spain's credit rating and Fitch's downgrade of UBS, Morrison added.
At 1040 GMT, S&P 500 futures were up 10.95 points at 120.85, Nasdaq 100 futures were up 19 points at 2345.00 and Dow industrial futures were up 94 points at 11489.0
EUROPEAN MARKETS: European stocks were in the black but off highs. At 1018 GMT, the Euro Stoxx 50 was up 0.9% at 2354.26, traders described the session as choppy with volumes still somewhat low, but the overall tone appears to be upbeat. Investors picked up stocks battered in Thursday's selloff, such as basic resources companies, the Stoxx 600 index for that sector was up 1.3%, further helped by firmer metal prices. "There is still very much a risk-on approach by investors. Worries over Europe seem to have been placed on the side lines at the moment," said Spreadex.
London's FTSE 100 was up 1.0% at 5459.52, extending gains as heavily-weighted mining stocks advanced. Xstrata was up 4% and Rio Tinto was up 3.7%, amid firming metals prices. On the downside however, Severn Trent was the biggest loser, off 1% following a brokerage downgrade. Meanwhile, the issue of European sovereign debt remained firmly in focus, but news that G-20 officials are considering a boost to the IMF's lending capacity helps to underpin sentiment, although the talks are still at an early stage.
Bunds and gilts were down. At 1038 GMT, December bunds were down 0.58 at 133.81, while December gilts were down 0.78 at 127.02.
A mildly positive tone held in currency markets with the euro holding around $1.38, while risk-sensitive sterling, aussie dollar and New Zealand dollar stayed close to session highs against the dollar. But caution prevailed with Italy's Berlusconi facing another vote of confidence, while finance ministers from the G-20 gather in Paris later today.
At 1038 GMT, the dollar was up at Y77.00, the euro was slighlty higher at $1.38 and the pound was flat at $1.5769.