US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Earnings, Consumer Confidence Data

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. The FOMC will begin its two-day policy meeting today. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for May will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET, while the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 37 points to 16,953.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.30 points to 1,976.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 7.75 points to 3,967.75.

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.32%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.06%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.14%, French CAC 40 Index gained 0.07% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.23%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.57%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 0.87% and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.24%. Japan's unemployment rate increased to 3.7% in June, while retail sales slipped 0.6% y/y in June.

Analysts at BMO Capital downgraded Dollar Tree

from Outperform to Market Perform. The target price for Dollar Tree has been lowered from $69 to $59. Dollar Tree's shares gained 1.20% to close at $54.87 yesterday.