Pick of the early market news

A few small gains for European stock markets yesterday (London remained closed). The German Dax inched 0.18% higher to 5,889 while the French CAC 40 barely budged; it rose 0.03% higher to 3,103. Better news across the pond: US consumer confidence climbs for the second month in a row - to an eight-month December high, in fact. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index pushed 10 points higher to 64.5 compared to 55.2 in November.