The major US equity benchmarks are now being called to open higher by 0.3%, on average.

Helping to hold stocks aloft are the better than expected export figures which were released overnight in China.

Nevertheless, levels of technical resistance have yet to fall.

Of interest, technical analyst and Wall Street legend Ralph Acampora believes investor sentiment toward US stocks is poised to change for the better and contribute to a multi-year advance, Bloomberg reports.

Ford has doubled its quarterly dividend payment to 10 cents per share.

Jeweler Tiffany's share price is plummeting after guiding towards the lower end of forecasts.

Weekly US initial unemployment claims rose by 4,000 to 371,000 (Consensus: 365,000). The previous week's reading was revised down by 5,000 to 367,000.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now rising by 1.17% to the 94.19 dollar level on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now rising by 3 basis points, to the 1.89%.

AB

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