US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Consumer Spending Data

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trading, ahead of economic data. Data on consumer spending for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for March will be released at 9:55 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 43 points to 16,225.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 6.20 points to 1,846.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 15.75 points to 3,570.00.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.06%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.42% and STOXX Europe 600 Index jumping 0.69%. German DAX 30 index climbed 1.03% and French CAC 40 Index rose 0.44%. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.50%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.06% and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.24% and India's BSE Sensex climbed 0.57%. Japan's retail sales climbed 3.6% y/y in February, while the core consumer price index gained 1.3% y/y in February. Japan's unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in February, from 3.7% in January.

Analysts at RBC Capital upgraded Finisar

from “sector perform” to “outperform.” The target price for Finisar has been raised from $26 to $30. Finisar's shares closed at $25.54 yesterday.