Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the DJIA fell 55 points to 15,413, the Nasdaq lost 23 points at
3,907 and the S&P500 shed 9 points at 1,746.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently off 93 points at 14,333 and the Hang Seng
down 204 points at 22,796.

WTI crude oil traded at $96.86 a barrel and Brent crude at $107.80.

Gold settled at $1,333 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

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FTSE / DOW

CNY HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI 50.9 50.5 50.2

Strong new orders lift China HSBC flash PMI to seven-month high in October

BEIJING | Thu Oct 24, 2013 4:37am BST
(Reuters) - Strong new orders drove the fastest expansion in China's manufacturing sector in seven months in October, a preliminary survey showed on Thursday, more evidence that the economy is stabilising although a strong rebound remains elusive.

The flash PMI figure, the earliest reading of China's monthly economic performance, offers some positive news after disappointing exportfigures and September's manufacturing PMI, which had shown weak domestic demand.

European Factors to Watch-Shares seen bouncing back on China data

LONDON | Thu Oct 24, 2013 6:22am BST
Oct 24 (Reuters) - European shares were expected to resume a recent rally to five-year highs on Thursday, with figures showing a pick-up in manufacturing activity in China improving sentiment.

The European mining sector was expected to track gains in major industrial metals prices after the flash Markit/HSBC Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for China, the world's top metals consumer, climbed to a seven-month high. It stood at 50.9 in October, above September's final reading of 50.2.

Financial spreadbetters predicted Britain's FTSE 100 to open 15 to 16 points higher, or as much as 0.2 percent, Germany's DAX to gain 30 to 33 points, or as much as 0.4 percent, and France's CAC 40 to rise 15 to 19 points, or as much as 0.5 percent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.6 percent to close at 1,279.99 points in the previous session, retreating from a five-year high on Tuesday.

French Flash Manufacturing PMI 49.4 50.3 49.8

French Flash Services PMI 50.2 51.2 51.0

Spanish Unemployment Rate 26.0% 26.1% 26.3%

German Flash Manufacturing PMI 51.5 51.6 51.1

German Flash Services PMI 52.3 53.8 53.7

FTSE100 comfortably higher in early deals as miners thrive

EUR Flash Manufacturing PMI 51.3 51.4 51.1

EUR Flash Services PMI 50.9 52.3 52.2

GBP CBI Industrial Order Expectations -4 10 9

FTSE100 makes firm gains midday with Lloyds in focus

Stock futures rebound; Ford, Microsoft in view

Oct. 24, 2013, 7:44 a.m. EDT

LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures pointed to a recovery on Wall Street on Thursday, spurred by encouraging Chinese manufacturing data, as investors look to earnings releases from Ford Motor Co., Microsoft Corp. and many others.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJZ3 +0.37% climbed 57 points, or 0.4%, to 15,408, while those for the S&P 500 index SPZ3 +0.29% gained 6.50 points, or 0.4%, to 1,748.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NDZ3 +0.25% gained 10.75 points, or 0.3%, to 3,350.75.

The positive moves materialized after HSBC’s “flash” reading of October’s China manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed a rise to a seven-month high of 50.9, up from September’s final reading of 50.2. A level above 50 signals expansion. The upbeat data also helped lift stock markets in Europe, while Asian markets closed mixed.

The gains also came on the back of a weaker session on Wednesday, when the S&P 500 index SPX -0.47% fell from a record closing level, as investors assessed mixed results from U.S. corporations.

Earnings look set to be a highlight on Thursday, with results from Ford F +3.77% , Dow component Microsoft MSFT +0.39% and Amazon.com Inc AMZN +0.61% on the agenda.

Ford said it now expects full-year pretax profits to be higher than in 2012, improved from prior guidance, as it reported a rise in third-quarter revenue to $36 billion, from $32.1 billion a year earlier. Shares were up 3.9% premarket.

For Microsoft, reporting after the closing bell, analysts forecast earnings of 54 cents a share in the first quarter. Amazon, also out after the market closes, is expected to post a loss of 10 cents a share in the third quarter.

Also reporting Thursday, Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL -0.27% posted a 6% rise in third-quarter adjusted earnings per share, meeting analyst expectations of 73 cents.

Among notable movers premarket, Symantec Corp. SYMC -14.09% fell 12% after the software firm late Wednesday posted lower-than-expected results, lowered its full-year guidance and issued current-quarter guidance below analysts’ expectations.

USD Trade Balance -38.8B -39.4B -39.1B

USD Unemployment Claims 350K 343K 358K

USD Flash Manufacturing PMI 51.1 52.8 52.8

USD JOLTS Job Openings 3.88M 3.77M 3.69M

End-of-day Market Overview