10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open

Here are 10 things you need to know in markets today.

The Fed Stuck To The Course. There were no big surprises from the Federal Reserve Wednesday night. In its December statement, the Fed replaced the phrase "considerable time" with "patient" in crafting its forward guidance on interest-rate policy. In Wednesday's statement, the Fed said that economic activity continues to expand at a "solid pace," indicating no real change in policy.

Samsung Profits Slumped. Strong chip earnings failed to make up for weakness in the South Korean giant's smartphone business. The result put the firm's 2014 profit at 25 trillion won, down from a record 36.8 trillion won in 2013 and the lowest since 2011.

The IMF Just Gave The US A Deadline. The IMF set a June deadline for making progress on reforms that would give emerging countries more say in how the world lender is run, an attempt to break a standoff created by US failure to ratify the changes. The governance reforms were adopted by the IMF in 2010. The administration of US President Barack Obama has so far been unable to persuade Republicans in Congress to act on the measure.

Asian Markets Are Sinking. All three major indices are down: Japan's Nikkei closed down 1.07%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently down 1%, followed by the Shanghai Composite index, down 0.97%.

S&P Put Greece On Negative Watch After The Week's Turmoil. S&P said: "The Credit Watch placement reflects our view that some of the economic and budgetary policies advocated by the newly elected Greek government, led by the left-wing Syriza party, are incompatible with the policy framework agreed between the previous government and official creditors."

Facebook Revenue Surged. Facebook said on Wednesday its revenue grew 49% to $3.85 billion in the final three months of 2014, as strength in mobile advertising helped the Internet social networking company beat Wall Street's revenue target.

Petrobras Say Profits Slashed And Shares Plunged. Scandal-plagued Brazilian oil giant Petrobras announced incomplete, long-delayed third quarter 2014 results Wednesday that showed profits down 9 percent compared to the previous year. The news sent Petrobras shares plunging 11.31 percent by early afternoon.

Eurozone Consumer Confidence Is Coming. At 10 a.m. GMT (5 a.m. ET) European figures for consumer confidence, as well as confidence figures for the major sectors of the economy are out for January. Economists are expecting minor improvements.

McDonalds' CEO Is Out. McDonald's announced that CEO Don Thompson is leaving the company. Thompson will retire on March 1 after 25 years with the fast-food chain, McDonald's said in a statement. Steve Easterbrook, the senior executive brand president and chief brand officer, will take Thompson's place as CEO.

Moscow May Create a "Bad Bank". As part of a package of measures worth $35 billion, Russia will consider creating a state institution to buy damaged or toxic assets from the financial sector in an effort to repair its creaking banking system, according to the FT.