CNBC - TODAY'S PRIMER, May 1, 2012

*CNBC.com

US stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday in what was likely to be a light trading day with many European and Asian markets closed.
Earnings out on Tuesday come from Pfizer ahead of the open. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Pfizer to have earned 56 cents per share excluding items in the first quarter on revenue of $15.5 billion. Time Warner reports after the closing bell.


Economic data released on Tuesday is relatively light with only construction spending for March due to be released at 10:00am New York time. The consensus forecast on the website briefing.com was for a 0.8 percent increase in construction spending compared to a decline of 1.1 percent in the prior month. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index for April is due to be released at the same time and seen dropping slightly to 53.0 from a prior reading of 53.4 by economists polled by briefing.com.


Most markets in Europe and several major Asian markets were closed on Tuesday to mark the May Day holiday and activity could remain limited ahead of Thursday's monthly policy meeting of the European Central Bank and Friday's release on U.S. non-farm payrolls data. Of the major markets only the London Stock Exchange remained open for business in Europe.


World shares eased and the safe-haven Japanese yen hit fresh highs on Tuesday after a rebound in China's factory sector and a big rate cut in Australia failed to offset concerns about the U.S. economy and the euro zone in thin holiday trading.


The stronger yen helped send Japan's stock market to a 2-1/2 month closing low while the MSCI's world equity index was down just 0.15 percent to 328.26, adding to losses of about 1.5 percent in April.


The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates by a surprisingly aggressive half a point to 3.75 percent, a level not seen since late 2009, and left the door open for further easing if needed.


In corporate news Delta Air Lines announced that it would buy a Pennsylvania oil refinery from ConocoPhillips for $150 million.


The leaders of New York City’s pension funds said on Monday they would vote their 4.7 million company shares against five directors standing for re-election to Wal-Mart’s board at its annual shareholder meeting next month over concerns about the retailer’s reported cover-up of bribery in its Mexico operations, the New York Times reported.


And oil producer BP reported a bigger-than-expected drop in profits on Tuesday morning despite an increase in crude prices, as production fell after it was forced to sell fields to pay for the oil spill. London-based BP said replacement cost net profit was $4.93 billion in the quarter, compared to $5.61 billion in the same period last year.