OREANDA-NEWS. August 11, 2011. US stocks fell on Wednesday with Financials (-6.99%) and Industrials (-4.88%) as the laggards. S&P 500 index slumped by 4.42%, Russell 2000 Index – collapsed by 5.16%. EURUSD finished the day near 1.42. Rumors on French banks’ insolvency caused another wave of panic in Europe. Wholesale inventories were up by 0.6%, below consensus forecast of 1.0% rise.

Asian markets closed flat on Thursday. Hang Seng was down by 0.7%, Nikkei – lost 0.7%. S&P/ASX closed flat. Shanghai stock indices added on average 1.2%. Kospi was up by 0.62%.

The European stock indices futures rose in the morning - Dow Jones Stoxx 50 futures added 2.52% while Dax futures rose by 2.66%. S&P futures added 1.51%.

Initial jobless claims (12:30 GMT) will be in focus today in the US.