Asian and European markets post strong gains By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday, buoyed by gains for overseas markets, as investors awaited the latest ADP employment data, due before the opening bell. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJM11 12,280, +55.00, +0.45%) climbed 51 points to 12,276, and those for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index (SPM11 1,324, +7.10, +0.54%) rose 6.1 points to 1,322.60. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index (NDM11 2,342, +19.00, +0.82%) gained 14.75 points to 2,337.25. Overnight, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NI225 9,709, +249.71, +2.64%) rallied 2.6% as exporters surged on a drop in the yen and news of recovering production after the recent earthquake and tsunami. In Europe, stocks were mostly higher, led by miners, car makers and utilities. “The markets have taken a bit of a step today,” said Ben Critchley, sales trader at IG Index. He said momentum in Asian markets seems to be building after losses in the wake of the Japanese crisis. “Markets seem strong, considering what’s going on in the world, and certainly, as far as the U.S. goes, we saw declining consumer sentiment and house prices... that has worried the market before, but it seems to have been pushed to one side,” he said. Soccer game lifts Japan's spirits Japan's national soccer team faces off against current and former stars of the country's professional soccer league in a charity match. It was the first event to capture national interest since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. On Tuesday, Wall Street closed higher, paced by gains for energy and telecom stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 12,279, +81.13, +0.67%) rose 81 points, or 0.7%, to close at 12,279. On Wednesday’s economic calendar, the ADP employment report for March will be released at 8:15 a.m. Eastern. The data come ahead of Friday’s closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report. Among companies in the news, Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO 54.00, +1.60, +3.05%) reported a second-quarter profit of 98 cents a share. On average, analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected a quarterly profit of 97 cents a share. Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX 51.51, +7.12, +16.04%) rose 12.6% in premarket trade. Late Tuesday, company said it will bid $73 a share for biopharmaceutical group Cephalon Inc. (CEPH 76.64, +17.89, +30.45%) in an offer valued at almost $5.7 billion. Read about Valeant’s bid for Cephalon. Also in premarket trading, shares of drug maker Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACHN 7.05, +0.26, +3.83%) rose 6.4% after the company announced positive results for a clinical trial of a treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Meanwhile, crude oil for May delivery fell 34 cents to $104.42 a barrel, while May gold futures rose $3.20 to $1,420.10 an ounce. Against the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar (USDYEN 83.1400, +0.6700, +0.8124%) rose 0.9% to ¥83.11, hitting a more than three-week high. The dollar got a boost Tuesday from speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve won’t extend its quantitative-easing program past June. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said he would vote against any further monetary easing by the central bank after the current program ends. Gains for the dollar continued through Asian and into European trading.

Source