US Stock Futures Surge Ahead Of GM Earnings, Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from General Motors Company

and Kellogg Company

. The Challenger job-cut for January will be released at 7:30 a.m. ET. Data on international trade for December, weekly jobless claims and nonfarm business productivity for the fourth quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 73 points to 15,440.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 8.70 points to 1,752.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 17.75 points to 3,463.25.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.20%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.72% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.97%. German DAX 30 index rose 1.09% and French CAC 40 Index climbed 1.23%. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.18%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.72% and India's BSE Sensex surged 0.25%. The HSBC Hong Kong's PMI surged to 52.7 in January versus 51.2 in December. Australia's trade surplus widened to 468 million Australian dollars (US$420 million) in December from A$83 million in November, while the country's retail sales increased 0.5% y/y in December.

Analysts at Bank of America upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp

from “neutral” to “buy.” The price target for Fifth Third Bancorp has been raised from $23 to $24. Fifth Third's shares closed at $20.65 yesterday.