US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trade, ahead of jobless claims data. Data on weekly jobless claims and the producer price index will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Markit PMI manufacturing index (flash) for November will be released at 8:58 a.m. ET, while the general business conditions index will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 38 points to 15,916.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.80 points to 1,783.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 10 points to 3,376.50.

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.02%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.06% and STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.19%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.24% and French CAC 40 Index tumbled 0.53%. German manufacturing PMI surged to 52.5 in November, while the manufacturing PMI for France dropped to 47.8 in the month. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 1.92%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.04%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.51% and India's BSE Sensex dropped 1.97%.

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded J.M. Smucker Company (The)

from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for Smucker has been lowered from $123 to $118. Smucker's shares closed at $101.49 yesterday.