US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Jobless Claims, Housing Starts Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for August and weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The general conditions index of the Philadelphia Fed's Survey for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 51 points to 17,120.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.40 points to 2,001.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 14.50 points to 4,079.75.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.63%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.79%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.96%, French CAC 40 Index surged 0.60% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.39%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 1.13%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.85%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.35% and India's BSE Sensex surged 1.81%. Japanese exports declined 1.3% in August, versus a 3.9% gain in July. However, imports fell 1.5% in the month.

Analysts at Wells Fargo downgraded Pier 1 Imports

from Outperform to Market Perform. Pier 1 Imports' shares dipped 11.52% to $13.75 in pre-market trading.