US Stock Futures Climb Ahead Of Fed's Beige Book

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. Data on motor vehicle sales for August will be released today. Data on factory orders 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 71 points to 17,124.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.90 points to 2,007.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 16.25 points to 4,108.25.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.23%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.85%. German DAX 30 index climbed 1.29%, French CAC 40 Index rose 1.21% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.76%. Spain's Markit services PMI climbed to 58.1 in August versus 56.2 in July. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 0.38%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.30%, China's Shanghai Composite Index surged 1% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 0.45%. China's official nonmanufacturing PMI rose to 54.4 in August versus 54.2 in July, while the HSBC China services PMI climbed to 54.1 in August versus 50.0 in July.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded American Tower Corporation (REIT)

from Overweight to Equal-weight. The target price for American Tower has been lowered from $101 to $98. American Tower's shares closed at $98.78 yesterday.