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

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims, retail sales for February and import prices for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The U.S. Treasury monthly budget report for February will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 44 points to 17,682, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4 points to 2,043.3. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose around 10 points to 4,316.

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.16%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.17% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.22%. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.10% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.89%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.43%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.34%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.78% and India's BSE Sensex climbed 0.95%.

Analysts at Barclays downgraded

from Overweight to Equal-weight. The price target for Hewlett-Packard has been lowered from $42 to $35. Hewlett-Packard shares closed at $32.61 yesterday.