10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

 Apr. 18, 2012

Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for Reebok

Good morning. Here's what you need to know.

• Asian markets rallied in overnight trading with theShanghai Composite surging 1.96 percent led by the finance and property sectors. Europe is lower after a slew of weak economic data, and U.S. futures are modestly lower.

• Chinese home prices fell in 37 of 70 citiestracked by the government March. Wenzhou reported a 9 percent drop in prices, and led the decline. Officials will keep property restrictions on home purchases in place.

• Some weak economic data out of Europe. Euro area construction output plunged 7.1 percentmonth-over-month in February, and 12.9 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile Italian construction fell 20 percent year-over-year. 

• In tech news, IBM reported operating net income of $3.3 billion or $2.78 per share beating expectations, but disappointed on revenue. Meanwhile, Yahoo reported Q1 earnings of $0.22 per share, on revenue of $1.08 billion beating expectations.

• Today sees a deluge of earnings announcements. Yum! Brands is expected to report earnings of $0.72 per share. Meanwhile, eBay is expected to announce earnings of $0.52 per share andQualcomm is expected to report earnings of $0.96 per share. 

• BlackRock reported Q1 adjusted earrings of $3.16 per share, on revenue of $2.25 billion beating expectations. Meanwhile, Halliburton reported Q1 net income of $627 million or $0.68 per share.

• Reuters is reporting that Chesapeake Energy's CEO borrowed as much as $1.1 billion in loansover the last three years against his stake in thousands of company wells. The loans haven't been detailed to shareholders and raise conflicts of interest.

• In M&A news, Nestle is reportedly close to buying Pfizer's infant nutrition unit for up to $10 billion as it seeks to expand its operations in China. Pfizer first put the unit on sale back in July 2011. Meanwhile, SXC Health solutions is buying Catalyst Health Solutions in a $4.4 billion deal.

• UK jobless claims rose by 3,600 in March to 1.61 million from the previous month. Unemployment eased to 8.3 percent in the quarter through February, from 8.4 percent.

• Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett has been diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer, but he says the diagnosis isn't life threatening.