dow jones futures just made big turnaround, page-4

US Consumer Confidence was released yesterday morning US time and was ugly. Probably responsible in large part for the sell-off in the US.

However the Nikkei is up atm after a rise in manufacturing sentiment.

"TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japanese managers grew more upbeat about business conditions in the three months to September, a key Bank of Japan survey showed Wednesday, with optimists outnumbering pessimists among large manufacturers for the first time in nearly three years."

That may have impacted US futures, but they're a pretty meaningless indicator anyway.