US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures are slightly higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 18 points to 13,517.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 1.60 points to 1,454.50. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 6.25 points to 2,856.25. US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.09% to 13,564.64, the S&P 500 index falling 0.13% to 1,459.32 and the Nasdaq 100 index declining 0.03% to 3,177.80. Data on August housing starts will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. However, data on existing-home-sales for August will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store CBRL is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $1.30 per share on revenue of $681.8 million. Adobe Systems ADBE is expected to post its Q3 EPS at $0.58 on revenue of $1.10 billion. General Mills GIS is projected to report its FQ1 earnings at $0.62 per share on revenue of $4.08 billion. Herman Miller MLHR is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.39 on revenue of $452.07 million. AutoZone AZO is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $8.42 per share on revenue of $2.8 billion. Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $1.02 on revenue of $2.53 billion. Wintrust Financial Corporation WTFC announced its plans to buy HPK Financial Corporation for $27.5 million. Microsoft MSFT lifted its quarterly dividend by 15% to $0.23 per share. Yield on the 10-year Spanish government bond declined 0.08 percentage point to 5.89%. European markets were mixed today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.16%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.13%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.08% and German DAX 30 index declined 0.02%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.19%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.40% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.51%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.16%. Nymex crude-oil futures gained $0.42 to trade at $95.71 a barrel, while gold futures gained $5.70 to $1,776.90 an ounce. The dollar index declined 0.1% to trade at 79.144. The euro dropped 0.19% versus the dollar to trade at $1.3023. The US dollar rose 0.3% against the Japanese yen to trade at ¥78.99.