By Bryan McCormick
Stock index futures in the U.S. are higher this morning on very light trading volumes.
Asia-Pacific indexes were mixed overnight, with China mainland stocks ending lower. Japan finished fractionally higher, while Hong Kong markets outperformed on the upside.
European markets began deep in the red but have bounced back. News that the Finnish parliament has backed an expanded European Financial Stability Fund helped support shares.
U.S. market futures had been trading lower until Europe's reversal, continuing their high short-term correlation to movements in Eurozone assets. As votes to approve the European fund continue, we can expect more volatility. Although passage of the original framework is all but certain, the expanded measure is an unpopular one.
There is always a risk that one of the 17 members could dissent given mounting political pressures. A detail in the Finnish vote, for example, is that each change in the fund will need a new vote for approval, which could blunt its effectiveness on procedural grounds. European markets slipped when that fine print became clearer.
In currency markets, the dollar is lower this morning. The only currency in the basket that is weaker is the Canadian dollar.
Commodity prices are lower this morning, though there have been some bounces since the Finnish vote. Energy is down, agricultural products are seeing fractional losses, and industrial metals prices have dropped after a strong rally yesterday. Gold has a fractional loss, while silver is down nearly 2 percent.
In stock-specific news, Family Dollar reported stronger-than-expected results and announced a share buyback plan of up to $250 million. McCormick also beat its consensus estimates and reaffirmed its 2012 targets.
Paychex reported better-than-consensus results last night and also reaffirmed guidance for the coming year. Darden Restaurants reported in-line results of $0.78 per share and backed its earlier view of 12 percent to 15 percent earnings growth for 2012.
Kimberly Clark and Colgate-Palmolive were both downgraded to "hold" at Citigroup.
Among S&P 500 companies reporting earnings, Micron is the only name scheduled to release results tomorrow.
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