What you need to know before the US open
The Dax hit 10,000 for the first time this afternoon, following Mario Draghi’s unveiling of his plans for new Targeted Long Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs).
Draghi is still answering questions at the ECB’s press conference, following the announcement that it’s taking interest rates into negative territory, in its battle against deflation.
US futures inched up on the news, and European stocks kept their nerve, with the move largely priced in already.
Meanwhile, away from all the European excitement, initial jobless claims in the US have come in at 312,000 – that’s the number of people who signed on for unemployment benefit for the first time last week.
Analysts had been expecting the more modest figure of 310,000, after 304,000 signed on a week earlier.
Corporate news
Refresco Gerber, the soft drinks company that owns Del Monte, Ocean Spray, Sunpride and Innocent, is eyeing up a UK listing, reports the FT.
And Reuters reports that Sprint Corp S.N. has agreed to pay $40 per share to buy T-Mobile US.