US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Jobless Claims, Retail Sales Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims and retail sales for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 81 points to 17,912.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 9.80 points to 2,075.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 22 points to 4,318.50.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 2.01%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.82% and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.69%. French CAC 40 Index climbed 1% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.37%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 1.85%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.44%, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.50% and India's BSE Sensex surged 0.95%.

Analysts at Brean Capital downgraded

from Buy to Hold.. NetApp's shares rose 0.90% to close at $39.79 yesterday.