US Stock Futures Surge; Bank of America Earnings In Focus

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Bank of America

. The producer price index for final demand will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while industrial production data for June will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. The NAHB housing market index for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 57 points to 17,045.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 6.30 points to 1,974.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 19.50 points to 3,932.00.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.36%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 1.16%. German DAX 30 index gained 1.19%, French CAC 40 Index jumped 1.41% and London's FTSE 100 Index surged 0.94%. Unemployment in the U.K. declined by 121,000 to 2.1 million in the three months to May. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.10%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 0.27%, China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.15% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 1.27%. Chinese industrial output increased 9.2% y/y, while retail sales for June climbed 12.4%. The country's gross domestic product growth reached 7.5% in the April-June quarter.

Analysts at UBS upgraded Intel

from Neutral to Buy. The target price for Intel has been raised from $30 to $37.50. Intel's shares rose 5.05% to $33.31 in pre-market trading.