To everyone's little surprise following Asian and European markets declines, stock futures are negative, indicating a lower start for U.S. markets despite their strong finish yesterday. No doubt, many will sigh in relief when today is over heading into the weekend.

8:30 update: Stock futures are now up following the Federal Reserve cutting its discount rate to 5.75% from 6.25%. So far the Fed had tried to address liquidity concerns by injecting money into the market, but when another $17 billion injected into the banking system yesterday did little, it seemed the Fed had decided on this rate cut, which would narrow the spreads between the rates and could help market liquidity improve.
Stock futures are shooting up at the moment, indicating quite a positive start.

Yesterday U.S. stocks seemed to be free falling at some point, with the Dow industrials losing about 340 points in the early afternoon. But once again, a late session volatility stormed the markets, this time taking stocks upward, and averting the dreaded 10% decline signaling a market correction. The Dow industrials and the Nasdaq still declined somewhat for the day, but the S&P 500 finished in positive territory.

Despite that positive momentum, the Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 index nose-dived 5.4% today as investors fear the dollar's decline could worsen earnings for Japanese companies. Other Asian markets also finished lower while European stocks started higher but managed to erase gains and now trade in negative territory.

Economic data due today is thin with the preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey for August due out at 10:00 a.m. and is expected to tick down.

Corporate news:

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) said late last night it will restate four years of financial results. The mistakes cause by executives adjusting reports to achieve performance goals could end up costing as much as $150 million.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) reported quarterly financial results after the close yesterday. HP boosted financial forecast. Net profit for the quarter ended July 31 was $1.78 billion, or 66 cents per share, a 29% jump from the year-ago period. Excluding one-time charges, the company earned 71 cents per share, beating estimates by 5 cents. Sales for the period were $25.38 billion, a 16% increase from the a year ago and $1 billion higher than analysts prediction.

Borse Dubai offered 27.7 billion kronor ($3.96 billion) for Sweden's OMX AB, topping a bid from Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.

Midwest Air Group Inc (NYSE: MEH) said today it accepted a bid of about $450 million or $17 per share from private equity firm TPG Capital and Northwest Airlines Corp (NYSE: NWA), the latter as a passive investor.

Finally, yesterday, a judge said he will not block the $565 million merger of Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) and Wild Oats Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: OATS), but the Federal Trade Commission could still appeal the ruling. Shares of Wild Oats are gaining in premarket action.