US Stock Futures Up; Fed Decision In Focus

US stock futures were surged in early pre-market trade. The housing starts report for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The FOMC will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold press briefing at 2:30 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 42 points to 15,852.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 5.10 points to 1,778.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 9.75 points to 3,470.50.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.83%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.32% and STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.78%. German DAX 30 index climbed 0.94% and French CAC 40 Index surged 0.56%. The UK's unemployment rate declined to 7.4% in October. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 2.02%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.13%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.32% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 1.2%. The Reserve Bank of India held its key lending rate unchanged. China's foreign direct investment rose 2.35% y/y to $8.5 billion in in November. Japan's merchandise exports climbed 18.4% y/y to Y5.901 trillion in November, while trade deficit widened to Y1.293 trillion.

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Avon Products

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for Avon Products has been lowered from $22.50 to $18.50. Avon's shares closed at $16.92 yesterday.