Hang Seng (Hong Kong): +2.09%

Australia: +3.41%

Nikkei 225 (Japan): +0.88%

Europe at mid-day:

FTSE 100 (UK): +1.58% at 11:15 AM

DAX (Germany): +1.77% at 12:15 PM

CAC 40 (France): +1.88% at 12:15 PM

Europe up nicely, perhaps on news of 14 month high in new car registrations.

SPY after hours: 1.0% at 6:21 AM

QQQQ after hours: 1.7%

Economic Indicators: June Consumer Price Index (CPI) comes out at 8:29 AM EST. CPI is half of a percent lower than last year.

The Empire Manufacturing report for June comes out at 8:29 AM too. It shows manufacturing in New York State and is expected to decline.

Industrial production is expected to show a June drop of 0.6% after Mya’s drop of 1.1% when announced at 9:14 AM EST. Capacity utilization is also expected to decline to 67.9% from 68.3%.

9:00 AM Abbott Labs (ABT), drug company, has Q2 earnings call.

9:15 AM Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM), fast food restaurants, has Q2 earnings conference call.

10:00 AM Gannett (GCI), newspaper publisher, has Q2 earnings call.

11:50 AM Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), electronics retailer has a webcast from the Oppenheimer & Co. Consumer, Gaming, Lodging & Leisure Conference.

1:30 PM KLA-Tencor (KLAC), designs and manufactures equipment for the semiconductor industry, briefs analysts.

Australia: +1.90%

Nikkei 225 (Japan): +2.34%

Asia up as a knock=on effect of US Monday return?

FTSE 100 (UK): +0.56% at 10 AM

DAX (Germany): +0.77% at 11 AM

CAC 40 (France): +2.31% at 11 AM

Europe up moderately.

S&P 500 (Globex): 0.0% at 5:21 AM

Nasdaq (Globex): 0.1%

Economic Indicators: June retail sales comes out at 8:29 AM EST. Retail sales are 10% lower than last year. The consensus estimate is that June sales are +0.4% over May.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for June comes out at 8:29 AM too. It is expected to show a 1% rise over May. Core PPI is up 3% year over year.

Business inventories is expected to show a 0.8% drop in June over May when announced at 9:59 AM EST. The inventory to sales ratio has shot up to 1.44 since sales have fallen by 15%, while inventories only by 5% year over year.

Goldman Sachs (GS) before the market opens, Intel (IITC) after the close and DELL has a call before the open, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), and Yum! Brands(YUM) after the market closes, and Altera Corp (ALTR) after the close announce earnings.