What you need to know before the US open
US markets are expected to open higher today following Vladimir Putin’s more conciliatory stance towards the Ukrainian election, and better than expected initial jobless claims numbers.
The number of people signing on for unemployment benefit for the first time fell by 26,000 last week, to 319,000.
Over here in Europe, both the Bank of England and European Central Bank (ECB) have held steady on interest rates. The Euro’s just slipped sharply, though, after ECB president Mario Draghi hinted at possible June action.
Corporate news
Fannie Mae’s announced $5.3bn of profits in the first quarter, saying it’s returning €5.7bn to the government on the back of the results. This is the ninth quarter profit the mortgage company's made.
McDonald’s has posted flat sales for last month – an improvement on the five months of declines the fast food chain had reported.
And IntercontinentalExchange has reported a record profit in the first quarter of $262m. The firm added the owner of the New York Stock Exchange to its portfolio in the period.
Data in focus
• 2.30pm: US Fed’s Yellen speech