10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Talks between Greece and its creditors remain ongoing. Leaders from Greece, the ECB, EU, and IMF will be working towards reaching an agreement on Monday. "We will do whatever we can so that a deal is found on Monday. If we don't have an agreement on Monday, we believe that there is always time so that there won't be a problem," noted a spokesman for Greece. Hopes a deal can be hashed out have the Greek borrowing rates lower with the 3-year yield down by 286bps at 14.85%.
Germany drives European GDP higher. Eurozone Q4 growth registered +0.3% quarter-over-quarter. On an annualized basis, the region grew 1.4%. Notable strength in Germany (+0.7% QoQ) and Spain (+0.7% QoQ) provided support to the region while both France (0.0% QoQ) and Italy (0.0% QoQ) were stagnant and Greece (-0.2% QoQ) saw a small contraction. The euro trades little changed at 1.1415.
European stocks trade at their best levels since 2008. European stocks are rallying again, with the EuroStoxx 50 up 0.9%. Spain's IBEX (+1.5%) and Italy's MIB (+1%) have peripheral bourses out in front in Europe. Germany's DAX (+0.5%) holds solid gains. The DAX hit 11,000 for the first time ever on Friday.
Global stocks markets are up. Australia's ASX (+2.3%) was a notable outperformer. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+1.1%) and China's Shanghai Composite (+1%) also saw notable gains.
King Digital is surging following its earnings beat. The company saw business slow as profits fell 11%, but the results managed to outpace analyst estimates. The stock is higher by 19%.
Zynga is getting smoked after its earnings miss. The results missed analyst estimates by a wide margin and the company announced it would shut down its China-based development house. Shares trade lower by 15%.
AIG missed quarterly estimates. The insurance giant fingered low rates and debt refinancing for the soft quarter. The stock is down 2.5%.
New loans in China bounced back. The Middle Kingdom saw new loans jump 111% to a five-and a half-year high. China's Shanghai Composite added 1.0% on the news.
Australia central bank Governor Glenn Stevens testified to the economics committee. Mr. Stevens gave a downbeat outlook for the Australian economy, noting "We were hoping for a period of stability, but we were faced with the question of if the economy needed a bit of support could we provide that?" The Australian dollar holds little changed near .7745.
Consumer sentiment data is coming. The preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment reading will cross the wires at 10am ET. Economists expect the headline index to be unchanged at 98.1.