The main US equity benchmarks are now being called to start the day with the slightest of gains, of just about 0.1% on average.

That comes on a day in which no major macroeconomic announcements are due and ahead of President Obama´s State of the Union address, tomorrow.

Acting as a backdrop, The Wall Street Journal reports that US and European officials are studying possibly adopting a common posture as regards recent movements in currency markets so as to curtail the risk of a new round of competitive devaluations.

Also worth pointing out, according to a Democratic party aide cited by Bloomberg Senate Democrats are close to proposing a $120bn plan for a 10-month delay in the cuts set to begin March 1st, the so-called 'sequestration.' That comes after weekend remarks from Democrats and Republicans which show they still remain divided on whether new increases in taxes remain necessary.

Google´s Chief Executive Officer is to place 3.2m shares in the firm, news of this is weighing on the stock in the pre-open.

RBC Capital has today raised its view on shares of AOL up to outperform from sector perform previously, while those at Susquehanna have raised their price target on shares of Mc.Donald´s to $109 from $98 previously.

Front month West Texas crude futures are now falling by 0.3% to the 95.43 dollar mark on the NYMEX.

10 year US Treasury yields are now flat at 1.88%.

AB

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