US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Jobless Claims

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Conference Board's index of leading indicators will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 40 points to 14,887.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 6.70 points to 1,642.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 17.25 points to 3,079.75. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.78%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.82% and STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.90%. German DAX 30 index rose 1.09% and French CAC 40 Index surged 1.04%. Euro-zone flash composite purchasing managers' index rose to 51.7 in August, from 50.5 in July. German preliminary composite PMI climbed to 53.4 in August, from 52.1 in July. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. China's flash manufacturing PMI surged to 50.1 in August, from 47.7 in July, according to HSBC. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.28%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.44%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 dropped 0.46%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.36% and India's Sensex jumped 2.27%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at ISI Group downgraded Target TGT from “strong buy” to “buy.” The target price for Target has been lowered from $76 to $70. Target's shares closed at $65.50 yesterday. Breaking news

• Sears Holdings SHLD posted a wider fiscal second-quarter loss. Sears posted a quarterly loss of $194 million, or $1.83 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $132 million, or $1.25 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Navidea Biopharmaceuticals NAVB today announced that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for two special protocol assessments (SPA) for the Company's pivotal Phase 3 program with NAV5001 as an aid in the differential diagnosis of Parkinsonian Syndromes from non-Parkinsonian tremor. To read the full news, click here.
• Stage Stores SSI reported an 18% drop in its fiscal second-quarter profit and lowered its forecast for the full year. To read the full news, click here.
• Acacia Research ACTG announced today that its Brilliant Optical Solutions LLC subsidiary and Google GOOG have entered into an agreement that resolves the dispute between the parties currently pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Civil Action No. 4-12-cv-00356. To read the full news, click here.