US Stock Futures Up; Crude Oil Drops

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 20 points to 12,820.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 1.50 points to 1,389.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7.75 points to 2,603.75. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.38% to 12,836.89, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.23% to 1,391.03 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.34% to 2,926.55. US stock markets will be open for only a half day of trading on Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday. Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC announced its plans to acquire Schiff Nutrition International

for $1.4 billion. American International Group

announced its plans to invest around $500 million in People's Insurance Company (Group) of China's initial public offering. European markets were slightly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.01%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.17%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.06% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.05%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 1.56%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.58% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.02%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 0.79% India's Sensex fell 0.06%. Crude-oil for January delivery dropped $0.33 to trade at $87.05 a barrel on Globex. The ICE dollar index (DXY) fell 0.08% to trade at 80.63, from 80.704 on Thursday.