US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Jobs Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on nonfarm payroll employment for November and international trade for October will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while consumer credit data for October will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 25 points to 17,915.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.90 points to 2,073.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 7.25 points to 4,320.75.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.62%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 1.24%. German DAX 30 index rose 1.36%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 1.39% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.60%. German industrial orders gained 2.5% on the month in October. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.71%, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.32% and India's Sensex slipped 0.37%.

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Google

from Buy to Neutral. The price target for Google has been lowered from $600 to $580. Google's shares closed at $537.31 yesterday.