Morning Wire -- US Stock-Index Futures Higher

US index futures are up this morning as markets following yesterday’s big downer. Traders are waiting to hear the ADP report on employment and the Challenger Gray & Christmas report on layoffs. Expectations are high for US job growth, above 200,000 seasonally adjusted. The official figures aren’t due until Friday from the US Labor Department. In Europe, Germany’s new factory orders unexpectedly fell in January, but that hasn’t affected European indexes much (more coverage here). In Asia, indexes are down as traders absorb yesterday’s news on the lower growth forecast for China and the threat to the Greek debt swap deal that is set to be completed tomorrow.

At about 8:15 a.m. ET, Germany’s DAX is up 0.17% at 6,644.39 and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.66%, at 3,384.79. In London, the FTSE 100 is up 0.34%, at 5,785.36.

In Asia, the Hang Seng index closed down -0.65%, at 20,627.80 and the Nikkei index closed down -0.64%, at 9,576.06. The Shanghai exchange closed down -0.65%, at 2,394.79.

Dow futures are up 0.36%, at 12,790.00. The Nasdaq is up 0.42%, at 2,600.25 and the S&P is up 0.35%, at 1,346.60.

In the currency markets, the US dollar is weaker against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen. The US dollar index is down -0.13% at 79.764.

In commodities, WTI and Brent crude are hihger this morning, with WTI up 0.40% at $105.12/barrel and Brent is up 0.57% at $122.68/barrel. Gold is up 0.51% this morning, at $1,680.60/ounce.

Paul Ausick