A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting retail sales data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 45 points to 13,290.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 6.40 points to 1,427.90. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 17 points to 2,727.00.

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.63%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.56%, French CAC 40 Index surged 1.34% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.79%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.51%, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.30% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.10%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.06% and India's Sensex gained 0.21%.

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded Sprint Nextel

from “underperform” to “hold.” The target price for Sprint has been raised from $3 to $7. Sprint shares surged 7.85% to $6.18 in pre-market trading.