Dubai, Greece and Spain are...not a problem any more? Seems that way...global markets are higher, including the stock markets of all three of those countries.
There's some signs that national banks think things are getting better: The Swiss National Bank said they will stop buying corporate debt. Australia generated far more jobs than was expected in November. The Bank of England left rates unchanged and also said they were not making any changes in their asset purchase plan.
Elsewhere:
1) AOL, spun off from Time Warner, begins trading today at the NYSE. Cowen gets the award for Best Headline of the Day for an Analyst Report: "Time Warner: End of an Error." Yikes! Runner-up is BMO Capital Markets: "Time Warner: Free at Last, Free at Last."
2) Lilly , down 3 percent pre-open ahead of its annual analyst meeting, said 2010 earnings would be in the range of $4.65-$4.85, about in-line with analyst consensus of $4.74. But its biggest drugs are losing patent protection between 2011 and 2014, including antipsychotic medication Zyprexa.
3) Citigroup trades huge this morning: nearly 100 million shares (!) have changed hands pre-open. A Treasury official told CNBC negotiations were underway for Citi to exit the TARP but the outcome is uncertain.
The Street doesn't seem to think it's uncertain: the main question is how much of the $20 billion they owe will come from cash or equity. Betting seems to be they will raise at least $10 billion from an equity offering, and maybe more.
4) Costco said first-quarter earnings rose slightly from the prior year, while revenue was up 6 percent.
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