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Asian stocks slumped Friday after a spike in Spanish government borrowing costs added to the uncertainty over Europe's debt crisis and investors braced themselves for China.

U.S. stock futures are back up near Wednesday's opening price this morning as investors continue to focus firmly on Italy. Yesterday the Dow dropped almost 400 points as Italian bond yields surged past the 7% mark that is seen as the point of no return. At a time when the country has a lot of debt to refinance, borrowing costs are seen as unsustainable.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 200 points just before midday Wednesday after Italy's borrowing costs soared, a sign that Europe's debt crisis had spilled into the third-largest economy in the euro bloc.

Groupon, the company that pioneered online group discounts, saw its stock climb by nearly a third in its public debut Friday, showing strong demand for an Internet company whose business model is considered unsustainable by some analysts. Groupon's stock jumped $6.40, or 32 percent, to $26.40 in late morning Friday after trading began at about 10:45 a.m. Earlier, the stock was trading as high as $31.14. Big fluctuations are common for companies that have just gone public as investors gauge what to do with the stock. The stock is trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol "GRPN."

SecondMarket has raised money from a venture fund started by a former Facebook executive as the online marketplace for private shares looks to persuade more companies to sign up.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 339 points Thursday after European leaders unveiled a financial rescue plan and the data showed the U.S. economy growing at a faster clip in the third quarter than earlier in the year.

Stocks jumped more than 2 percent at the open on Thursday after European leaders agreed to boost the region's bailout fund and struck a deal with banks and insurers to accept 50 percent losses on Greek bonds.

The presence of company stock within a 401k plan is a major red flag. On the other hand, it provides a simple way for employees to assess whether they can trust their employer and any of the products and services offered within a plan. The more company stock within a 401k plan, the less an employer can be trusted. It's that simple.

Strong corporate results and hope that European leaders were making progress on their debt woes helped lift shares on Wall Street.

Wall Street celebrated Columbus Day with a 330-point buying binge on the Dow as traders around the world breathed a sigh of relief that European leaders pledged to bolster their banks and the markets look ahead to the start of earnings season.