Broader credit market worries sacked stock futures Thursday after French banking group BNP Paribas suspended three funds -- tying up client investments -- saying it could not accurately value them due to a lack of liquidity throughout the U.S. securities market. The news sent U.S. bank stocks lower overseas.

The Dow is poised to retreat after padding the week's gains by 153.56 in Wednesday's trading. The Dow has climbed nearly 475 points since Friday's 281-point plunge.

Companies reporting earnings Thursday include HealthSouth Corp. (NYSE: HLS) and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN).

The Labor Department will give its weekly report on new unemployment claims at 8:30 a.m.

The Nikkei rose 1 percent to 17,240.99, pushed higher on news that Barneys New York has passed on a buyout bid from Japan's Fast Retailing. The FTSE 100 rose 1.33%.

In overseas currency markets, the dollar gained 0.3% on the euro, but slipped 0.7% against the yen.

Company news

AIG (NYSE: AIG) posted unexpectedly high income in its second-quarter report Wednesday, but cited cramping from weakness in the housing market.

News Corp, (NYSE: NWS) fresh off its successful bid for Dow Jones, reported higher profits over last year's fourth quarter.

Online search provider Infospace Inc. (NYSE: INSP) slipped overseas after reporting losses of 86 cents per share -- far worse than analysts' expectations of 12-cent losses.

HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS), the Alabama-based rehabilitation company, is close to completing a massive restructuring after years of tough times.

New management, three divestitures to be completed by the end of 2007 and a soon-to-be-more-friendly approach from Medicare and Medicaid, should allow this stock to perform nicely during the next three-to-five years.

HealthSouth was a boom-bust stock as former CEO Richard Scrushy built the diversified healthcare company into one of the larger and faster growing healthcare companies in the US during the 1990s. However, a number of financial irregularities came back to haunt Scrushy and his shareholders, leading to the stock tanking.

New management was brought in earlier this decade--well-respected execs from HCA--who first had to address the legal and accounting issues that plagued the company. Then last year the company announced it would begin selling non-core assets and become a focused rehab business.

The divestitures are for the most part completed and now the last part of the puzzle needs to be put in place. Medicare and Medicaid need to get the correct reimbursement rates so this very important industry can serve customers effectively and earn a return on investment. As boomers get older and stay more active, the rehab service that HealthSouth provides will become more and more important.

HealthSouth's stock ran up to $25 in anticipation of its three divestitures but has sold off to $20.50. Use this weakness to buy the stock, this could be a multi-bagger in the next few years.