US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims and the current account for the fourth quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The general conditions index of the Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey for March and the Conference Board's index of leading indicators for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 89.50 points to 17,974.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.45 points to 2,088.95. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 15.60 points to 4,437.60.

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.43%, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.02% and German DAX 30 index rising 0.73%. French CAC 40 Index gained 0.22% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.09%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.43%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.38%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.98% and India's BSE Sensex slipped 0.73%.

Analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded

from Market Perform to Outperform. The price target for Pier 1 Imports is set to $20.00. Pier 1 Imports shares rose 2.16% to $13.70 in pre-market trading.