What you need to know before the US open
US stock futures point to a mixed open, following a three-day weekend.
The first economic data in this week show the Empire Manufacturing Index, which gauges business activity for manufacturers in New York, fell from 12.51 to 4.48 in February.
Analysts had expected a reading of 8.5.
Outlook’s better, though – companies surveyed are expecting things to improve in six months’ time. The index measuring expectations went up to 38.99 in February, from 37.51 in January.
Corporate news
King, the games developer that makes Candy Crush, has confirmed that it’s filed for a $500m initial public offering.
Sony announced this morning that sales of its PlayStation 4 games console have gone past 5.2m units globally.
In the UK
Consumer price inflation fell to 1.9 per cent in January – below the Bank of England’s inflation target of two per cent for the first time since November 2009.
House prices continued advancing at the end of 2013, rising 5.5 per cent in December from a year earlier. In London, they rose 12.3 per cent.
The average house price is now £250,000.
In Europe
Shares have dipped in trading today, although the slide’s been negated by gains in BHP Billiton, which posted very strong results for 2013.
Germany’s ZEW survey highlighted a sag in morale among investors, but this has been seen as as temporary reaction to emerging markets turmoil and more modest US data.
Mind you, emerging markets worry hasn’t stopped the MSCI World Index from climbing right back up to near the high it saw before January’s selloff.
Meanwhile, the Troika is poised to return to Greece later this week to review how the country’s doing on delivering key reforms.
In Asia
The Nikkei’s 3.1 per cent gain on the back of the Bank of Japan’s decision to expand its loan programme to banks contrasted with the rest of Asia.
Data in focus
3.00pm: US NAHB housing market index