U.S. equity futures rose in early Thursday trading on hopes that a budget deal can be reached in Washington. Now that both parties have submitted proposals, investors know that any deal will come in between the two proposals.
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In other news around the markets:
- S&P cut Greece to Selective Default from CCC after the close Wednesday, meaning Greece is now officially in default. The move is in response to the debt buyback deal.
- The preliminary Q3 GDP estimate for the Eurozone was released at -0.1 percent quarter-ogre-quarter, the same rate as the second quarter and in line with economist estimates.
- The U.K.'s AAA rating has come under fire over the last 24 hours, as English Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne made his annual autumn statement in which he outlined budget proposals that put off a bulk of austerity into later years. Fitch said that it will review the U.K.'s rating in 2013 and could downgrade it.
- S&P 500 futures rose 0.3 points to 1,408.60.
- The EUR/USD was slightly higher at 1.3072.
- Spanish 10-year government bond yields rose to 5.437 percent.
- Italian 10-year government bond yields rose to 4.493 percent.
- Gold fell 0.04 percent to $1,693.10 per ounce.
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Pre-Market Movers
- 3M Co. (MMM) shares rallied 1.56 percent pre-market after rising 0.71 percent Wednesday. The stock is up 11 percent year to date.
- Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 0.41 percent pre-market as the company won a lawsuit against Motorola, now owned by Google (GOOG).
- Pandora Media (P) shares continued to slide following a guidance cut pre-market, falling an addition 4.74 percent Thursday morning.
- Zynga (ZNGA) shares rose 0.43 percent pre-market as the company is seeking a gambling license in Nevada.
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Earnings- H&R Block (HRB) is expected to report a second quarter loss of $0.40 per share vs. a loss of $0.38 a year ago.
- Lululemon Athletica (LULU) is expected to report third quarter EPS of $0.37 vs. $0.27 a year ago.
- Smith and Wesson (SWHC) is expected to report second quarter EPS of $0.24 vs. $0.10 a year ago.
By Matthew Kanterman