U.S. futures follow Europe, Asia higher
Evan McDaniel | evan.mcdaniel@optionmonster.com
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Equity indexes are indicating a positive open this morning ahead of the second-quarter GDP release at 8:30 a.m. ET.
S&P 500 futures are higher by 5 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1359.75 at the time of this writing. Nasdaq 100 contracts are up 9 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2583.50.
European indexes are higher as well after the European Central Bank said it may purchase bonds to help ease the Eurozone debt crisis, with the German DAX rising 0.31 percent and the U.K. FTSE 100 adding 0.24 percent. In currency markets, the euro/dollar is up 0.09 percent to 1.2304.
That relative weakness in the dollar is helping to fuel commodity prices. Oil futures are higher by 0.32 points, or 0.37 percent, to 89.72. Copper futures are up 1.03 percent to 3.429, while gold is gaining 11.90 points, or 0.74 percent, to 1631.90.
Asian equity indexes rallied overnight, leading Hong Kong's Hang Seng to surge 2.02 percent while Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.46 percent.
In company-specific news, Facebook is plunging more than 11 percent in pre-market trading after reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly results in yesterday's post-market.
Amazon is fractionally higher this morning despite posting a steep decline in profits last night. U.S. banks are trading higher, led by JP Morgan and Bank of America.
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