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The Before the Bell report is constantly updated to reflect the latest news developments and market moves in the premarket. Check back later for updates.

World stocks are on track for their worst weekly setback since August and the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen for three straight days over concerns about a shift in policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve – but Friday could break the trend.

Dow futures are pointing upward, albeit modestly, with less than two hours before markets open. Futures activity for the broader S&P 500 shows gains of about 0.4 per cent. That's by no means enough to put either index in the green for the week, but it does provide some relief from the recent downturn.

In Europe, stocks were up 0.5 per cent and in Asia Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 per cent in overnight trading.

The early signs of a rebound follow a round of upbeat economic news – particularly from the United States – that has pushed up forecasts for when the Fed is likely to taper its monthly bond purchases. March is now widely seen as the furthest possible date, and many observers are now wondering if the Fed could either make the move next week, or at least drop some hints.

Given that the Fed's bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing or QE, has been very good to the stock market in recent years, no one really knows how stocks will behave after the stimulus is wound-down. The Fed concludes a two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.

The economic calendar is light. The U.S. producer price index came in close to expectations, and had little impact on stock, currency and bond markets..

Here's a closer look at what's going on this morning and what is to come.

MARKETS:

Equities:

Futures: S&P 500 +0.4 per cent; Dow +0.3 per cent; Nasdaq +0.4 per cent

Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.12 per cent

Shanghai composite index -0.31 per cent

Japan's Nikkei +0.40 per cent

London's FTSE 100 +0.18 per cent

Germany's DAX +0.21 per cent

France's CAC 40 +0.27 per cent

Commodities:

WTI crude oil (Nymex Jan) -0.39 per cent at $97.14 (U.S.) a barrel

Gold (Comex Feb) +0.61 per cent at $1,232.40 (U.S.) an ounce

Copper (Comex Mar) +0.24 per cent at $3.30 (U.S.) a pound

Currencies:

Canadian dollar at 93.78 (U.S.), vs. 93.98 at Thursday's North American close.

U.S. dollar index up 0.15 at 80.36

Bonds:

U.S. 10-year Treasury yield 2.89 per cent, up 0.003

ECONOMIC INDICATORS:

The U.S. producer price index fell 0.1 per cent in November from October, versus expectations for a flat reading. Year over year, it rose 0.7 per cent, versus the Street estimate of 0.8 per cent.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

Shares in the big Canadian telecom players will be in focus amid news late Thursday that the CRTC has ramped up its investigation into whether the Big Three wireless companies are charging excessive rates to smaller competitors for the use of their networks.

Qualcomm named Steve Mollenkopf as its new CEO and President. Current CEO Paul Jacobs will become executive chairman.

ANALYST ACTIONS:

Credit Suisse downgraded Lululemon Athletica to "neutral" from "outperform" and cut its price target to $59 (U.S.) from $78. Janney Capital cut its fair value target to $76 from $90 but maintained a "buy" rating.

RBC Dominion Securities raised its price target on Twitter to $60 (U.S.) from $33 and maintained an "outperform" rating.

Desjardins Securities hiked its price target on Transat to $18 (Canadian) from $15 and maintained a "buy" rating.

Desjardins Securities downgraded Kirkland Lake Gold to "hold" from "buy" and slashed its price target to $3 (Canadian) from $6.

Raymond James upgraded FedEx to "strong buy" from "outperform" and raised its price target to $190 (U.S.) from $124.

Global Hunter Securities downgraded Anadarko Petroleum to "neutral" from "buy" and cut its price target of $106 (U.S.) from $133.

Citigroup upgraded Western Digital to "buy" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $100 (U.S.) from $71.

MKM Partners initiated coverage on Hilton Worldwide with a "neutral" rating and $24 (U.S.) price target.

THIS MORNING'S TOP INVESTING LINKS:

Goldman Sachs' Thomas Stolper, who correctly predicted the dollar's slide against the euro this year, is deviating from the consensus that the greenback will be among the best currencies to own in 2014.

The best bets you could have made as an investor in 2013.

Why Costco is itching to open stores in one of the world's worst economies.

The Santa Claus rally season is about to begin.

U.S. stocks are cheap on 12 of 15 historical valuation measures.

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For instant headlines on breaking economic and corporate news in the premarket, follow Darcy Keith on Twitter at @eyeonequities.

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