Before the bell: U.K. isolated from new Eurozone pact

It's not the first time in history that the United Kingdom finds itself isolated from the rest of Europe. The euro is expected to survive thanks to a new Eurozone deal wrought of tighter fiscal measures and spearheaded by a Franco-German plan that 23 of the 27 European Union (EU) member countries agreed to. But uncertainty remains and international markets reflect that this morning with questions abound as to how said fiscal measures will be implemented in a divided EU.

Joining the U.K. on the outside looking in are Sweden, Czech Republic, and Hungary. The euro weakened by 0.3 per cent against the U.S. dollar and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 opened with a drop of 0.8 per cent.

The failure of the 17 Eurozone nations to secure unanimous support with the entire 27 country EU disappointed investors worldwide and it showed in Asian stock markets: Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended down 1.5 per cent at 8536.46, Australia's S&P/ASX fell 1.8 per cent to 4203.0 and South Korea's Kospi lost 2 per cent to 1874.75. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 2.7 per cent to 18586.23, while China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.6 per cent to 2315.27 and India's Sensex dropped 1.7 per cent to 16213.46.

Canada's benchmark stock index fell as the price of crude oil dropped US$2.15 to $98.34 a barrel, and gold declined $31.10 to $1,709.80 an ounce. The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 196.94 points, or 1.62 per cent, to 11,951.79, with nine of its 10 sub-indexes declining, led by materials, down 2.47 per cent. The Canadian dollar lost 1.19-cents to the U.S. dollar, closing at 97.79-cents.

Moreover for Canadians, warnings persist to batten down the hatches as the Bank of Canada says this country's economy and financial systems remain at risk in light of the ongoing European crisis.

And yet the news will be a booster stateside as U.S. stocks gear up for a higher open on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Nasdaq 100 Index futures are all pointing upwards. Even Moody's downgrading of three top French banks couldn't squelch U.S. stock futures and European stock enthusiasms as Britain's FTSE 100 inched up 0.4 per cent, the DAX in Germany gained 0.5 per cent and France's CAC 40 added 1.3 per cent.