Commodities are a bit weaker here as the dollar is stronger, stock futures are flat.
Europe and Asia are mostly higher, the Shanghai Composite, however, is up 4.6 percent today, best day in a month on strong earnings forecast from a couple of their banks.
South Korea the latest country to say they will defend their currency. The won has declined in value on inflation concerns.
Elsewhere:
1) Brewer InBev, frustrated by the refusal of Anheuser-Busch'sboard to negotiate, is now announcing that they will attempt to remove the company's entire board. They want the company's shareholders to vote on the board's future and will argue the board is not acting in the company's best interests.
2) GM is again considering cutting thousands of white-collar jobs and is even considering selling some brands, according to the WSJ. June sales were down, but not as much as expected.
3) The stock market in June began pricing in lower expectations for earnings in the second half of the year, but there could still be a few surprises. Much of the tone for quarter will be set by Alcoa, reporting after the bell tomorrow. Alcoa, of course, depends on aggressive commodity forecasts, which will give us insights into the global economy. There is concern over cost escalation due to higher natural gas and other costs. Finally, M&A is still very much a background issue.
4) Disneycut to underweight at Lehman; Merck downgraded at UBS on concerns over Gardasil, its vaccine for human papillomavirus.
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