US stock futures are up pre-market, foreshadowing a strong open on the US stock markets. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and is expected to comment on how to address the slow economic recovery, especially after the disappointing job data released last week. A few weeks ago, Chairman Bernanke said that the forecast for recovery remains “unusually uncertain”.
In premarket trading, Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and D.R. Horton(NYSE:DHI) lead the pack with gains of 2.13% and 3.4%.
Stocks to watch today include HP (NYSE:HPQ), and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
HP’s (NYSE:HPQ) shares is up 3.49% in pre-market trading after announcing on Friday that chief Mark Hurd resigned after a sexual harassment claim was made against him and the company.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), up 0.4% on pre-market trading, confirmed over the weekend that Mark Papermaster, the former IBM executive in charge of the iPhone division, has been replaced by Bob Mansfield.
Over in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX are both up 1.54% in afternoon trading after German exports reached their highest levels since late 2008, indicating the country's economy is recovering much faster than previously thought.
The GBP/USD heads higher into the 1.6 range as Bank of England is expected to provide higher inflation forecast in the upcoming inflation report.
Gold, copper, energy futures are up all across the board, despite North Korea having fired 10 artillery rounds off its West Coast. Gold, copper, and light crude futures are trading up 0.5%, 1.21%, 0.83%, respectively.