US Stock Futures Edge Higher Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade. Data on Durable goods orders for January, weekly jobless claims and the consumer price index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The FHFA house price index for December will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET, while The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for February will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 13 points to 18,207.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 2.30 points to 2,112.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 6 points to 4,442.75.

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.40%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.36% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.33%. French CAC 40 Index rose 0.09% and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.01%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.50%, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.15% and India's BSE Sensex slipped 0.90%.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded

from Equal-weight to Underweight and lowered the price target from $28.00 to $18.00. Abercrombie & Fitch shares fell 3.12% to close at $24.86 yesterday.