US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Weekly Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting jobless claims data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 53 points to 14,604.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 5.90 points to 1,551.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 11.25 points to 2,784.75. US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.94% to 14,618.59, the S&P 500 index declining 1.43% to 1,552.01 and the Nasdaq 100 index falling 1.84% to 3,204.67. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. The general business conditions index for April and the Conference Board's index of leading indicators for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The EIA weekly report on natural gas stocks will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET, while data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET. eBay EBAY issued weak forecast for the current quarter. SanDisk SNDK reported upbeat first-quarter results. Pepsico PEP is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.71 per share on revenue of $12.61 billion. Google GOOG is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $10.69 per share on revenue of $14.04 billion. Morgan Stanley MS is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $8.35 billion. Baxter International BAX is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $1.04 per share on revenue of $3.48 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp FITB is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion. International Business Machines IBM is expected to post its Q1 earnings at $3.05 per share on revenue of $24.69 billion. KeyCorp KEY is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.20 per share on revenue of $1.03 billion. Advanced Micro Devices AMD is projected to post a Q1 loss at $0.17 per share on revenue of $1.05 billion. Microsoft MSFT is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.68 per share on revenue of $20.56 billion. Philip Morris International PM is estimated to report its Q1 earnings at $1.34 per share on revenue of $7.52 billion. Verizon Communications VZ is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.66 per share on revenue of $29.56 billion. AutoNation AN is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.64 per share on revenue of $4.03 billion. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.45%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.49%, French CAC 40 Index surged 0.73% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.57%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 1.22%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.17% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 1.65%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.26% and India's Sensex gained 1.52%.