US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Factory Orders Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on motor vehicle sales for January will be released today. Data on factory orders for will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 54 points to 17,353.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 6.90 points to 2,024.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 10 points to 4,195.50.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.27%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 1.26% and German DAX 30 index rising 1.18%. French CAC 40 Index gained 1.29% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 1.20%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.27%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.29%, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.45% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.42%. China posted a current account surplus of $61.1 billion for the fourth quarter, versus a revised current-account surplus of $72.2 billion in the third quarter.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded

from Hold to Buy. The price target for Sysco has been raised from $40 to $50. Sysco's shares closed at $38.43 yesterday.