Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lower open for Wall Street on Thursday as the European Union moved to create a common banking authority and despite the Federal Reserve's announcement of a new bond-buying program.

European shares fell. EU finance ministers reached an agreement Thursday that would make the European Central Bank the supervisor for banks in the eurozone.

Asian stocks finished Thursday's session mixed, but Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.7% to close at 9,742.73 -- an eight-month high -- on a weakening yen.

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The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly jobless claims, November retail sales and the producer price index, all due at 8:30 a.m. EST.

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U.S. stocks on Wednesday reversed gains in the final hour of trading as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke answered reporters' questions.

The late-day decline came despite an earlier spike in the major indices after the central bank fulfilled the wishes of the markets for a fresh round of stimulus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 3 points, or 0.02%, to 13,245.45 on Wednesday.

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Google's (GOOG) Maps app is again available on Apple's (AAPL) iPhone.

Google's online mapping system returned late Wednesday, nearly three months after Apple replaced Google Maps with its own navigation tool but with disastrous results.

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Knight Capital Group (KCG) expects to make a decision on its future ownership by early next week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Rival trading firms Getco and Virtu Financial, which both have submitted bids to buy the market-maker, are fine-tuning their takeover proposals for Knight, the Journal said.

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Australia's GrainCorp on Thursday rejected Archer Daniels Midland's (ADM) sweetened $2.9 billion bid for the grain handler.

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Adobe Systems (ADBE), the maker of Photoshop and other software for digital artists, is expected by analysts Thursday to post fourth-quarter earnings of 57 cents, down from 67 cents a share a year earlier.

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Network specialist Ciena (CIEN) is expected by analysts Thursday to post a fourth-quarter loss of 6 cents a share on revenue of $468.3 million.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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