US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 52 points to 13,497.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 6.10 points to 1,456.50. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 14 points to 2,835.00. US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.55% to 13,539.86, the S&P 500 index gaining 1.63% to 1,459.99 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 1.33% to 3,155.83. The Federal Reserve announced its plans to buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities every month. Data on August retail sales and consumer-price-inflation will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on August industrial-production will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for September will be released at 9:55 a.m. ET. Shares of Apple

surged to new highs on Thursday, a day after the company unveiled iPhone 5. Analogic

reported stronger-than-expected FQ4 revenue. Western Digital

lowered its revenue forecast for the fiscal first quarter and initiated a quarterly dividend. Werner Enterprises

issued downbeat earnings forecast for the third quarter. Textainer Group Holdings Limited

priced an underwritten public offering of 7,500,000 of its common shares at a price of $31.50 per share. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 1.39%, French CAC 40 index gained 1.95%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 1.53% and German DAX 30 index rose 1.44%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.83%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.64% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.16%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 2.90% and India's Sensex rose 2.32%. Nymex crude-oil futures gained $1.39 to $99.70 a barrel in electronic trade, while gold futures rose $2.20 to trade at $1,774.30 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) declined 0.26% to trade at 79.07, down from 79.254 in North American trade late Thursday. The euro gained 0.61% against the dollar to trade at $1.3067, versus $1.2992. The US dollar surged 0.79% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥78.10, versus ¥77.53.