US futures are indicating a higher open as of 05:00 ET. European equity markets lower. Follows mostly weaker Asian trade. Evergrande (HK:3333) remains in focus as the WSJ reported Chinese authorities told local governments to prepare for failure, signaling a reluctance to bail out the property developer. However, the market still anticipates Beijing will prevent wider contagion while PBOC has stepped up interventions with a spate of liquidity injections. In Europe, focus on the energy situation as well as the German elections set for this weekend. Companies mentioned: Evergrande, Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM), Weibo (NASDAQ:WB), IAC/Interactinve Corp, Meredith Corp (NYSE:MDP)