US Stock Futures Surge Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Markit PMI manufacturing index (flash) for August will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. The general conditions index of the Philadelphia Fed's Survey for August, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators for July and existing home sales data for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 38 points to 16,988.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4 points to 1,987.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 5.50 point to 4,045.00.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 1%, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.42%. German DAX 30 index climbed 0.45%, French CAC 40 Index rose 0.63% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.24%. Euro-zone PMI dropped to 52.8 in August versus 53.8 in July. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 0.85%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.66%, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.44% and India's Sensex gained 0.17%. The preliminary reading of HSBC's China manufacturing PMI dropped to 50.3 in August, versus July's final reading of 51.7.

Analysts at Janney Capital upgraded American Eagle Outfitters

from Neutral to Buy. The target price for American Eagle has been raised from $10 to $15. American Eagle's shares gained 0.92% to $13.10 in pre-market trading.