Thursday's equity drop has given way to....>

EQUITIES: Thursday's equity drop has given way to a tentative bounce in European

trading. Asian stocks closed lower, with Japan's NIKKEI down 167.43 pts or

-0.75% at 22305.48 and the TOPIX down 18.24 pts or -1.15% at 1570.68. China's

SHANGHAI closed down 1.156 pts or -0.04% at 2919.741 and the HANG SENG ended

178.77 pts lower or -0.73% at 24301.38.

- But European stocks are firmly up, with the German Dax up 147.48 pts or +1.23%

at 12117.58, FTSE 100 up 68.87 pts or +1.13% at 6146.24, CAC 40 up 86.49 pts or

+1.8% at 4902.09 and Euro Stoxx 50 up 49.39 pts or +1.57% at 3193.96.

- U.S. futures bouncing too, with the Dow Jones mini up 569 pts or +2.26% at

25736, S&P 500 mini up 56 pts or +1.86% at 3066, NASDAQ mini up 153.75 pts or

+1.6% at 9770.