US Stock Futures Up; Alcoa Earnings, Jobless Claims Data In Focus

US stock futures surged in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Alcoa

is expected to report its quarterly earnings after the closing bell today. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 55 points to 16,462.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures gained 5 points to 1,837.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 9.75 points to 3,574.50.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index surging 1.01%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.30% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.26%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.39% and French CAC 40 Index surged 0.22%. UK trade deficit narrowed to 9.4 billion pounds in November, versus GBP9.7 billion in October. German industrial output rose 1.9% on the month in November, versus a 1.2% drop in October. Asian markets ended lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 1.50%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.82%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.91% and India's BSE Sensex slipped 0.08%. China's consumer price index surged 2.5% y/y in December, versus a 3% rise in November. Australian retail sales climbed 0.7% in November versus a month earlier.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded McDonald's

from “equal-weight” to “overweight.” The target price for McDonald's has been raised from $93 to $115. McDonald's shares closed at $95.41 yesterday.