Morning Wire — US Stock-Index Futures Higher

US index futures are higher this morning as investors react positively to the report of a slight rise in Germany’s business climate index (more coverage here). Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is giving a speech about jobs this morning and the implications are that easy money will be around for some time to come (more coverage here). In Asia, markets closed essentially flat, as investors didn’t have any news on which to make choices one way or the other.

At about 8:15 a.m. ET, Germany’s DAX is up 0.62% at 7,039.12 and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.10%, at 3,479.81. In London, the FTSE 100 is up 0.47%, at 5,882.53.

In Asia, the Hang Seng index closed flat, at 20,668.90. The Nikkei closed up 0.07% at 10,018.20 and the Shanghai exchange closed up 0.05%, at 2,350.60.

Dow futures are up 0.56%, at 13,105.00. The Nasdaq is up 0.66%, at 2,746.75 and the S&P is up 0.55%, at 1,401.80.

In the currency markets, the US dollar is weaker against the euro and the British pound, and higher versus the Japanese yen. The US dollar index is down -0.05% at 79.306.

In commodities, WTI and Brent crude are mixed this morning, with WTI down -0.05% at $106.82/barrel and Brent is up 0.25% at $125.44/barrel. Gold is up 0.04% this morning, at $1,663.10/ounce.

Paul Ausick