Global stocks were relatively unchanged on Monday morning following the release on Friday of much-anticipated stress tests on European banks.
U.S. stock index futures were down slightly with about 45 minutes before markets open, suggesting that stocks will dip at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were down 21 points or 0.2 per cent. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were down 2 points or 0.2 per cent. On Friday, both indexes shot higher in afternoon trading, leaving the S&P 500 up 0.8 per cent.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.1 per cent and Germany's DAX index was down 0.4 per cent in afternoon trading. Both indexes had been higher in earlier trading. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 per cent in overnight trading.
BP PLC remains in focus after the Wall Street Journal reported that its chief executive, Tony Hayward, is on his way out of the oil producer -- which isn't a big surprise given the criticism over the way Mr. Hayward has handled the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The shares rose more than 2 per cent in London.
There is some relief in Europe, and elsewhere, over Friday's release of stress tests on 91 European banks. The results showed that just seven banks required additional funding to bolster their balance sheets, meaning that far less money is going to have to be raised than some analysts had feared. However, according to some observers, concern has now shifted to whether the tests were sufficiently rigorous.