10 things you need to know before European markets open
European PMIs are coming. Between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. London time (3 a.m. and 4 a.m. ET) European purchasing managers index (PMI) scores will be rolling out for the services sector in March, giving an idea of the economy's strength. Economists are expecting a score of 54.3, well above the neutral 50 level and February's 53.9.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is visiting Moscow today. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is heading to Moscow Tuesday for a state visit - the highlight of which will be a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
And Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis insists Greece will make its IMF payment. Varoufakis said on Sunday Greece "intends to meet all obligations to all its creditors, ad infinitum" following a meeting in Washington with International Monetary Fund officials. Greece has a major payment due on Thursday, and last week another minister had suggested that the country would not pay on time.
The US economy's service sector posted rapid growth for March. In March, Markit's service sector PMI reading rose to 59.2. beating expectations. Expectations were for the reading to come in at 58.6. This reading signaled the fastest pace of expansion in service sector output since August 2014. Any reading over 50 indicates expansion.
HTC made $11.6 billion in profit in the first quarter. HTC Corp posted an unaudited net profit of 360 million Taiwanese dollars ($11.6 million) for the first quarter of this year, the mobile communications maker said on Tuesday. Revenue on an unaudited basis was 41.52 billion Taiwanese dollars in the first three months of this year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia didn't cut rates. The RBA has left the official cash rate on hold at 2.25%. The central bank of Australia left its easing bias in the final paragraph of its statement, repeating that further "easing of policy may be appropriate over the period ahead, in order to foster sustainable growth in demand".
Poland is building watchtowers along its border with Russia. Poland has decided to beef up its security systems along its border with Russia, Newsweek reports citing the Polish press. Warsaw has proposed a project that would construct a series of six 24-hour surveillance watch towers along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, spaced along the entirety of the 124 mile-long border between the two nations.
Asian markets are up. Japan's Nikkei is currently up 1.16%, and the Shanghai Composite Index is 1.83% higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng opens again tomorrow following holidays.
FedEx is snapping up TNT Express. US delivery service FedEx has reached a deal to buy Dutch rival TNT Express for €4.4 billion ($4.8 billion), a joint statement said on Tuesday.
Samsung Electronics expects first quarter profits to tumble. Samsung Electronics on Tuesday flagged a 30.5% on-year fall in operating profit for the first quarter, as the world's top mobile producer continued to battle stiff competition from Chinese makers and arch rival Apple. The South Korea tech giant estimated an operating profit of around 5.9 trillion won ($5.4 billion) for the January-March period.