Australia: -0.02% today.

Nikkei 225 (Japan): +0.98% today.

Europe is flat to down at mid-day:

FTSE 100 (UK): -0.25% at 12:00 PM.

DAX (Germany): -0.14% at 1:00 PM

CAC 40 (France): -0.21% at 1:00 PM

SPY pre market open: +0.2% at 109.95 at 7:15 AM EST

QQQQ pre market open: +0.7% at 7:15 AM

Economic Indicators: The number of building permits and housing starts for September are announced at 8:29 AM EST. The number of building permits issued is expected to be 595K compared to 579K in August. The number of houses started in September is expected to be 610K compared to 598K in August.

A minute later, the producer price index (PPI) is announced for September. It is expected to be flat compared to August. The core PPI, excluding food and oil, is expected to show a 0.1% rise.

Earnings Announcements: Coke (KO) soft drink maker, Forest Labs (FRX) drug maker, and Lockheed Martin (LMT) a defense contractor, before the market opens today.

Earnings Announcements After the Close:Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) surgical robot maker went on a wild ride three months ago on earnings, SanDisk (SNDK) flash storage card maker, and CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) logistics company, announce earnings after the close today.

Australia: +0.64 today; -0.07% today.

Nikkei 225 (Japan): +1.68% today.

Europe at mid-day:

FTSE 100 (UK): +0.77% at 11:34 AM.

DAX (Germany): +0.56% at 12:34 PM

CAC 40 (France): +0.48% at 12:34 PM

SPY pre market open: +0.2 at 107.52 at 6:54 AM

QQQQ pre market open: +0.0% at 6:54 AM

Economic Indicators:The number of housing starts for August is announced at 8:29 AM EST. It is expected to show that there were 583,000 housing starts compared to 581,000 in July. This number can be estimated from the number of building permits pulled the month before.

The number of building permits applied for in August is expected to be 598,000 compared to 564,000 in July. That should lead to a higher number of housing starts next month.

Initial claims for unemployment for last week comes out at 8:30 AM. It is expected to be 1% higher than last week at 5555,000 claims. The number of continuing claims is expected to rise slightly to 6.1 million

The Philadelphia Fed Index, like the Empire Manufacturing report, showed an end to the contraction of manufacturing in its region last month. Today, at 9:59 AM it is expected to show a slight pick up in the index to 8 from 4.2 last month.

Earnings Announcements: Discover Financial Services (DFS) smaller credit card processor, FedEx (FDX) second largest package delivery service, Pier 1 Imports (PIR), chain of home decorating stores, announce earnings before the market opens today.

Australia: +1.25%

Nikkei 225 (Japan): +0.55%

Europe at mid-day:

FTSE 100 (UK): +0.80% at 10:30 AM

DAX (Germany): +0.82% at 11:52 PM

CAC 40 (France): +0.75% at 11:52 PM

European markets are up steadily since their open.

SPY after hours: +1.0% at 6:10 AM

QQQQ after hours: +1.0% at 6:11 AM

light volume for SPY and QQQQ after hours.

Economic Indicators: Building permits filed and housing starts for June, are announced at 8:29 AM EST. This is expected to be flat compared to May.

Before the market opens: GE and Mattel (MAT), toymaker of Barbie and Ken, and BB&T (BBT) a large regional bank, announce earnings.

During the day: Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) discuss earnings.

Should be an interesting options expiration day.