US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Apple

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 64 points to 13,357.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 7.10 points to 1,437.70. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 17.75 points to 2,797.00. US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.52% to 13,323.36, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.31% to 1,433.56 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.02% to 3,104.53 Data on August import prices will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while July wholesale inventories data will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee starts its 2-day meeting today. Apple AAPL is expected to unveil its new iPhone today. Pall PLL is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.77 per share on revenue of $718.79 million. Spartech SEH is expected to post its Q3 EPS at $0.12 on revenue of $297.65 million. Xyratex Ltd XRTX lowered its third-quarter sales forecast. Globecomm Systems GCOM posted its Q4 adjusted earnings at $0.13 per share, missing analysts' estimates of $0.20 per share. Texas Instruments TXN narrowed its forecast for the third quarter. Steel Dynamics STLD issued downbeat earnings forecast for the third quarter. CYS Investments CYS cut its quarterly dividend by 10%. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.45%, French CAC 40 index gained 0.62%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.30% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.71%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.73%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.28% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.80%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.10% and India's Sensex rose 0.77%. Japan's core machinery orders climbed 4.6% in July, versus 5.6% in June, according to the Cabinet Officer. Gold for December delivery gained 0.7% to $1,746.70 an ounce, while crude oil for October delivery gained 0.7% to $97.80 a barrel. The ICE dollar index (DXY) declined to 79.693, versus 79.866 in late North American trading Tuesday. The euro gained 0.24% versus the dollar to trade at $1.2887, up from $1.2857 late Tuesday.