US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Factory-Orders Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on factory orders for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 58.50 points to 17,992.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.95 points to 2,106.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 6.55 points to 4,474.30.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.79 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.72 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.29 percent. French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.97 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.36 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.06 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.87 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.03 percent and India's BSE Sensex rose 1.77 percent.

Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus upgraded

from Sell to Hold and removed the price target of $36.00. Twitter shares rose 0.98 percent to $38.21 in pre-market trading.