Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open on Wall Street Friday following a rebound in Asian equities.

European shares were higher.

Asian stocks ended with gains Friday, rebounding from the previous session when shares in the region declined on weaker export data from Japan and signs of contraction in the Chinese manufacturing sector.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2% to 9,110.0; China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1%.

---

The economic calendar in the U.S. on Friday is empty.

---

U.S. stocks on Thursday closed mixed after a raft of data from both the United States and abroad put a damper on investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial closed up 19 points, or 0.14%, to end at 13,597.

---

Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 5 went on sale across the globe Friday amid strong demand for the new device.

The smartphone goes on sale in the U.S. and Canada later Friday following the launch in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Britain, France and Germany. It will go on sale in 22 more countries next week.

Apple announced on Monday it had received 2 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours of the iPhone 5's availability.

Shares of the tech giant hit a new high of $703.99 earlier this week.

---

Oracle (ORCL), the software giant, reported an in-line profit Thursday for its fiscal first quarter but fell short on revenue by a wide margin.

Oracle generated non-GAAP earnings of $2.6 billion, or 53 cents a share, for the three months ended in August on revenue of $8.18 billion. Analysts were expecting a profit of 53 cents a share on revenue of $8.42 billion.

---

McDonald's (MCD) raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to 77 cents a share.

---

The Canadian Auto Workers union said late Thursday it reached a tentative deal with General Motors (GM) on a new labor deal.

The union reached a deal with Ford (F) earlier this week, leaving Chrysler as the only Detroit automaker not to have reached an agreement with the union.

---

Google (GOOG) said Friday it would close a music download service in China on Oct. 19.

---

The earnings docket on Friday includes Darden Restaurants (DRI), KB Home (KBH) and Park Electrochemical (PKE).

---

---

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].

Copyright 2012 TheStreet.com Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.