LONDON -- After closing down by more than 1% yesterday, the futures markets are pricing in an opening rise for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Economic data due out today includes the Federal Budget for May and the latest Import Price Index, which is expected to show an extension of last month's fall.
In Europe, Spanish and Italian government bond yields continued to rise this morning, with the yield on 10-year Spanish bonds reaching 6.6% at one point. U.K. manufacturing fell by 1% in April compared to last year, and Greece sold 1.6 billion euros of six-month bonds at a yield of 4.73%. All the major European markets managed to rise slightly during the morning, with the FTSE 100
In European company news, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline
The world's largest cement maker, Lafarge SA, was up by more than 1% after it reported planned cost savings of $1.6 billion over the next three years. Following yesterday's 8% fall in Garmin shares, TomTom NV surged by 12% this morning after news that Apple had agreed to use its digital maps.
In U.S. company news, Berkshire Hathaway hit the headlines on news that its private jet-hire subsidiary, NetJets, has placed a $9.6 billion order for up to 425 new jets from Bombardier and Textron Inc
The deal is a typical example of Warren Buffett's confident judgement in uncertain market conditions -- something that was also in evidence when the billionaire investor recently doubled his stake in one of the U.K.'s biggest blue-chip brands, which also has a presence in the U.S. market. If you would like to know what persuaded Buffett to buy and how much he paid, you can find this information in this special free report.
Other shares that could be active in trading today include Michael Kors and FactSet, with both due to report earnings before the market opens.
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