US Stock Futures Up; Retailers In Focus

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 40 points to 16,114.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.20 points to 1,807.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 16 points to 3,484.50. The US stock markets will close early at 1:00 p.m. ET.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.45%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.15% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.06%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.04% and French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.08%. German retail sales fell 0.8% in October versus September. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.41%, China's Shanghai Composite jumped 0.05%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 0.39% and India's BSE Sensex gained 1.25%. Japanese industrial output increased 0.5% in October versus the prior month, while core CPI climbed 0.9% y/y in October.

Analysts at Jefferies downgraded Renren

from “hold” to “underperform.” The target price for Renren has been lowered from $3.30 to $2.90. Renren shares closed at $3.35 on Wednesday.