LONDON -- Markets may open higher this morning, with futures markets at 7 a.m. EDT signalling a 0.15% opening gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.66%) and a 0.28% gain for the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.54%). The Nasdaq (^IXIC +0.77%) is expected to open unchanged.
Today sees a raft of new economic data, with September's producer price index due at 8:30 a.m. and expected to show an increase of 0.8%, down from 1.7% in August. Also due at 8:30 a.m. is September's Core PPI index, expected to remain unchanged at 0.2% from last month. Coming later, at 9:55 a.m., is the preliminary reading from October's University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey, expected to show a marginal rise to 78.5 from 78.3 last month.
Corporate earnings may generate more interest today. At 7 a.m. EDT, JPMorgan reported quarterly earnings of $1.40 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.22 per share. Wells Fargo is also due to report before the opening bell. Shares in AMD could also be actively traded this morning after the company updated its third-quarter outlook to indicate a 10% decline, citing weak demand "across all product lines."AMD fell by 8.1% in German trading this morning.
European markets
In Europe, markets have edged downward slightly this morning. At 7 a.m., the DAX was down 0.2%, the CAC was down 0.1%, the FTSE MIB was down 0.1% and the IBEX was up 0.5%. News that the EU has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize mystified many, but did not reduce investors' ongoing concerns about the delay in decisive action to resolve the eurozone crisis.
In London, the FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) was down 0.2% at 7 a.m. Fund supermarket and retail broker Hargreaves Lansdown led the gainers with a 3% rise after reporting record quarterly revenues and assets under administration. Hargreaves was followed closely by banks Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group, and Barclays, which all ended the morning around 2.5% higher.
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