- Markets in Asia largely sold-off overnight, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng off 0.3 percent. Trading in Europe is solidly higher, and U.S. futures point to a slightly positive open.
- Spanish unemployment jumped to 24.4 percent in March, well ahead of expectations for an increase to 23.8 percent. Separately, the country's debt was downgraded by Standard & Poor's.
- Japan's central bank increased its asset purchase plan to ¥40 trillion, or $494 Billion. An increase had widely been expected by economists, but the ¥10 trillion addition was somewhat lower than anticipated.
- Italy's borrowing costs headed back towards 6 percent, after it sold €5.95 billion in long term debt. The country had set a goal of a €3.75 to €6.25 billion auction. Yields rose to 5.84 percent.
- Chinese industrial profits increased by 4.5 percent to 438.9 billion yuan, or $69.6 billion. That reverses the first decline logged in January to February profits since 2009.
- Two major Chinese banks missed earnings expectations this morning. China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China reported net income of 51.5 billion and 61.3 billion yen, respectively.
- Online giant Amazon crushed earnings expectations, posting EPS of $0.28 on top line of $13.18 billion. Shares rocked 14 percent higher after the closing bell. Amazon said Kindle sales were strong across all geographic markets.
- Starbucks stock fell during after-hours trading after the company reported lower-than-anticipated same-store sale growth. Sales at stores open more than a year increased 7 percent. Earnings per share topped expectations at $0.40 per share, with revenue in line at $3.2 billion.
- U.S. economic announcements kick off at 8:30 a.m. with a reading of first quarter GDP. Expectations are for the economy to show a 2.5 percent annualized pace of growth. Personal consumption is seen increasing 2.3 percent during the quarter.
- Procter & Gamble, Merck and Ford all beat quarterly expectations this morning. Procter and Merck earned $0.94 and $0.99 per share, respectively. Ford reported earnings per share of $0.39 on revenue of $32.4 billion.
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