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Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
  • Asian markets headed lower overnight, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 1.1 percent. European shares are following that trend lower, and U.S. futures are pointing to a negative open.
  • Greek workers went on strike today as they prepared to stomach new austerity measures. Athen's transit system was brought to a standstill while the country's ships stopped moving. The new 48-hour general strike follows a similar one brought just last Tuesday.
  • U.K. output prices rose by 0.5 percent as raw material pricing increased by the same figure, 40 basis points above expectations, the country's statistics office said this morning. Core producer prices grew by 2.4 percent for the year following a 0.3 percent gain in January, the slowest jump in more than a year.
  • French industrial production fell greater than forecast in January, down 1.4 percent for the month, against an expected declined of 0.8 percent. That's the worst reading since September. Meanwhile, Italian production jumped 1.4 percent during the month, a surprise gain and well above expectations for a -0.5 percent reading. Growth in capital goods orders accounted for a majority of the gain.
  • Barclays, the first of Britain's main investment banks to report earnings this season, announced that it missed consensus estimates as revenue tumbled 48 percent in the fourth quarter. The bank posted net income for the full year of 3 billion pounds. Barclays also capped the portion of bonuses made in cash to £65,000.
  • RBS has dismissed at least four employees involved in the ongoing investigation of banks tampering with the LIBOR rate, Bloomberg's Lindsay Fortado and Gavin Finch report. Sources told the pair that Citi and Deutsche Bank have also fired employees in the matter, which impacted rates tied to securities in excess of $350 trillion. 
  • U.S. economic announcements kick off at 8:30 a.m. EST with the country's trade balance, which is forecast to increase to -$48.5 billion in December. At 9:55 a.m. EST, the University of Michigan consumer confidence reading will be released. Economists see the important metric declining in February to 74.8 from January's final reading of 75.
  • Global demand for diamonds is expected to fall in 2012, De Beers said this morning. The company, the world's largest producer of rough diamonds, said that the pace of purchases has slowed from the first half of 2011, mainly on weakness in Europe.
  • LinkedIn announced that revenues doubled during its fourth quarter, while net income rose to $6.9 million, or $0.12 per share. That was above analyst forecasts for a $0.07 quarter. The social network also announced it now had more than 150 million active users. 
  • The pace of earnings announcements slows considerably on Friday, with NYSE Euronext the main reporter. Analysts are looking for earnings per share of $0.49 and the conference call will likely focus on the company's plans now that it cannot merge with the Deustche Borse.